Protecting the Intellectual Property of Jewelry Designs
Writing for Managing Intellectual Property, Dyan Finguerra-DuCharme and Giovanna Marchese explore the circumstances under which jewelry designs may qualify for protection under US intellectual property laws.
"Protecting designs in their jewelry is an uphill battle for jewelers under US jurisprudence," the authors wrote. "The most common avenues for protection lie in the laws of copyright and trademark; however, each have limitations and hurdles and often leave designers without a sure means of enforcing their rights."
Copyright Protection for Jewelry Designs
Copyright holders of jewelry design own a bundle of exclusive rights in their work. To qualify for copyright protection, a piece of jewelry must be an author's original expression and possess a minimum level of creativity. Generally, the more complicated the design, meaning the more elements contained in the overall work, the more likely the Copyright Office will deem the work original enough to warrant registration. Copyright registration is an important consideration for those looking to protect their works, as it creates a public record of the piece's validity and provides key facts, such as the year of creation and the owner of the copyright. Additionally, in most federal courts, registration is a prerequisite for filing a lawsuit for copyright infringement.
Trademark Protection in the Context of Jewelry
Trademark rights in relation to jewelry generally involve a product’s design, which is protected as unregistered “trade dress”. The US Supreme Court has held that when seeking protection for a product design, the owner must show evidence of “secondary meaning,” which occurs when a consumer can automatically recognize the shape or configuration of the product as originating from one source, or brand.
Designers and manufacturers of jewelry should bear in mind that "while copyright often protects a jewelry design from the point of inception, trademark can only protect jewelry design after it has been on the market for at least five years, the manufacturer or designer has spent a considerable amount of money advertising the product, the product has been made available to innumerable consumers because of its success, and several parties have attempted to infringe the design."
