The State Farm policies in question don't define the terms The State Farm policies in question don't define the terms "trade dress infringement" or "trademark infringement," Phipps wrote for the court. But the policies do distinguish the two terms with their plain language, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Judge Peter Phipps wrote. The concepts of trademark and trade dress have much in common, with trade dress often treated as a subspecies of trademark. (Credit: Alexskopje/Shutterstock.com)

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that a commercial liability insurance policy's coverage of trade dress infringement claims does not extend to losses for trademark infringement.

The appeals court upheld a ruling from the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey that said the insurer is not obligated to cover trademark or copyright infringement claims by Avaya, a communications technology company, against an alleged seller of pirated Avaya software licenses.

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Charles Toutant

Charles Toutant is a litigation writer for the New Jersey Law Journal.

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