What Do Sugarfina’s Bento Box, the Heinz Dip & Squeeze and the Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Have in Common? Design Rights | What Do Sugarfina’s Bento Box, the Heinz Dip & Squeeze and the Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Have in Common? Design Rights | Modern Restaurant Management | The Business of Eating & Restaurant Management News

You are probably familiar with using trademarks, trade secrets and even utility patents to protect culinary innovations. But, you might be surprised to learn that many companies also turn to intellectual property rights to protect the appearance of their food products and packaging—specifically through design patents and trade dress rights.

Design Patent RightsIn the last twenty years, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued more than 1,100 design patents for edible products and over 14,000 design patents directed to packaging (although this is packaging of all types, not just for food). So-called “edibles” design patents include Breyer’s Viennetta frozen dessert,[1]Wrigley’s Eclipse gum,[2]and Kraft Foods’s shaped pastas, including a map of the United States of America,[3]a dinosaur,[4]and a magic wand.[5] Food packaging design patents include the Pom Wonderful bottle,[6]Kraft Trio Snackfulls containers,[7]Red Bull’s aluminum can tabs,[8]and the…

Elizabeth Ferrill

Elizabeth Ferrill is a partner at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett. & Dunner LLP. She is “an undisputed expert on design patents” who is “always updated and enlightening others with her deep knowledge,” “very involved in the design bar,” and “gives her clients an outstanding service” as noted in Intellectual Asset Management Patent 1000. She focuses her practice on all aspects of design patents, including prosecution, counseling, post-grant, and litigation.

Ferrill counsels clients who hold design patents as well as those accused of infringement. She has experience with design patents related to consumer and industrial products, medical devices, transportation and construction vehicles, and graphical user interfaces and icons. She has prosecuted families of design patents before the USPTO, directed prosecution in foreign countries, and argued appeals before the PTAB. She has a special interest in strategic counseling related to acquiring for worldwide protection for designs. She also litigates design patent matters at the U.S. district court level that include trade dress claims. In addition, she has appeared before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Danny Awdeh

Danny Awdeh is a partner at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett. & Dunner LLP. Recognized as one of the top attorneys in Washington, DC with “a gift for tactical thinking,” Danny Awdeh receives praise in World Trademark Review WTR 1000 for his commercially oriented approach towards client counseling and litigation for his work with “industry-leading, brand-rich entities.” He has achieved high-profile victories for clients across the globe and currently leads the firm’s trademark and copyright group.

Awdeh is an experienced trademark lawyer, consistently recognized by his peers and in-house counsel as being among the top attorneys for contentious and non-contentious trademark work. He is sought after as an “exceptional advocate who gives candid, practical advice backed by an impressive understanding of the legal complexities,” which was recently noted in World Trademark Review WTR 1000, and his proven track record across trademark disciplines, including high-stakes litigations, billion-dollar transactions, global brand launches, and strategic counseling.

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Elizabeth Ferrill

Danny Awdeh