The furniture market is booming. According to Statista, U.S. revenues will top $250 billion in 2024 and are projected to approach $300 billion by 2028. Living room, bedroom and home décor represent the largest chunks of spending and will account for more than $140 billion in sales this year. The Millennial and Gen Z demographics are fueling this growth as they establish themselves in new homes and upgraded rental properties.
These groups are sophisticated in their furniture choices. Fortune Business Insights points out that the COVID-19 pandemic triggered an intense focus on home improvement that has yet to abate. Consumers are choosing multi-functional pieces that allow them to maximize their time at home: A sectional sofa for the home office that doubles as a guest bed; chairs and stools that work at the desk as well as the dining room table; and multifunctional monitor arms that enable viewing from different living and work areas. Consumers are also seeking out unique shapes and upholstery designs that reflect their individuality. Sustainability is a key purchase decision factor. Wooden products continue to garner the lion's share of the overall market. Wood also lends itself to special millwork and one-of-a-kind detailing. New homeowners want to customize their furniture with fabrics and finishes that suit their preferences and design aesthetic.
For the industry, this renewed focus on home furnishings makes it crucial to consider which parts of your product's journey to market can and should be protected as intellectual property (IP). While many pieces of the puzzle cannot be protected, there are opportunities throughout the product lifecycle for designers, manufacturers and retailers to optimize their IP.
Let's first re-familiarize ourselves with some basic IP definitions as they relate to furniture:
Trademark – Trademarks prevent consumer confusion by associating specific marks with the source of products or services, thereby helping owners build brand recognition, foster consumer trust and promote fair competition in the marketplace. This includes protection of symbols, words, logos and other identifiers that distinguish goods or services. Trademarks can be broadly categorized into two groups: traditional trademarks (symbols, words or logos) and non-traditional trademarks (less conventional elements such as trade dress, sounds, colors, scents, and motion).
Trade Dress – Trade dress is a type of trademark that protects the overall appearance or commercial "look and feel" of a product, and can include product shape and product packaging. It applies to non-functional designs that are either inherently distinctive or have acquired secondary meaning (more on this later).
Trade Secret – Trade secret is information having economic value (actual or potential) from not being known or readily ascertainable and which is subject to reasonable security measures. Examples could include information that is not obtainable from analysis of a manufactured end product, formulas or processes for manufacturing components (e.g., textile recipes), software and/or operating parameters of manufacturing equipment, or other information that can be hidden from public access or observation.
Copyright – Copyrights protect creative works of authorship, including pictorial, graphical and sculptural works, architectural works and fabric designs. They do not cover the functional aspects of design, only the parts that can exist independently of the functional ones.
Patent – A patent is an intellectual property protection granted by the government to an inventor for a limited period. In exchange for disclosing the details of the invention to the public, the government grants the patent owner the right to exclude others from making, using, importing, and selling their invention. There are two types of patents for the furniture trade: utility (functional) and design.
A major challenge for today's reputable, furniture-focused business is maintaining a competitive edge in a market often flooded with cheaply — and seemingly instantly — produced copies of a popular product. Other competitive issues include differentiating your products through design, functionality and branding. A sofa is a sofa, but what makes yours unique? If we take a deep, holistic look at the sofa from concept to showroom floor, there are many areas in which to protect your creation's IP and leverage its value in the marketplace.
Design – Consider the many elements that go into designing a chair, for instance. Are there particular innovations in joinery or the interrelation of the materials used to make it? Does a hinge on a cabinet operate in a new way that's never been exploited? Does the furniture have some new use that nothing else in the market employs? Can the graphic in your fabric panel be considered trade dress or copyrightable? Is a pattern etched into a surface original art? All of these elements are worth IP protection consideration.
Manufacturing – Beyond the product itself, the IP in your manufacturing process is highly protectable. If your company has developed proprietary milling or routing software that makes for more efficient output, then consider protecting it with a copyright. Perhaps you've developed machinery that provides a very specific, highly detailed level of functionality for the production of your shelving systems — it could be patentable. Or perhaps you've developed a new manufacturing process that provides fabrics or structural components having improved properties (or creates such elements more efficiently or with fewer defects), both the process and the improved components manufactured same might be protectable. Or you may have developed a testing or design system/process that reduces end product defects and improves end product quality. Even your packaging and shipping process may contain protectable elements that can help speed your product to market.
In some cases, protecting the process to make an end product with a patent can protect against imports of the end product of such a process, even if the process is performed overseas, closing potential outsourcing loopholes. Additionally or alternatively, if certain valuable proprietary aspects of the manufacturing, design, or testing process can be hidden from public access with properly designed and implemented security measures, those aspects could enjoy protection as trade secrets.
Technology – Furniture that responds to user and environmental input relies on several technologies to achieve its function. The structure or functionality of a manufactured recliner might be protectable. The technology that helped the development, testing and/or manufacturing of the recliner might be too. Specifically, the AI-based technology that helped the development of its movement function is a prime example. Are you looking to monetize one-of-a-kind software that was written for your specific inventory management system? It should be protected and then licensed to leverage your investment. Technology that weaves through every phase of your product's journey is worth evaluating.
Marketing – Often overlooked, certain aspects of distributing and selling our creations can also be protected. Marketing, advertising, promotional and sales materials that are original creations (artwork, copy, musical scores, graphics) can all be copyrighted if they are original and authored by your business. As digital platforms proliferate, the content you deploy should always be considered. Even elements of curated sales environments can be protected. If you've published an employee training program that differentiates your company, you may want to look further into the elements (process, copy, design) that are protectable.
End Product – Perhaps the most complicated area to protect is the finished piece of furniture. Yes, numerous components throughout your cabinet's development can and should be covered, but what about the whole piece? If it directly represents the brand and is widely recognized as such, and you've documented years of successful sales and use, then it may be prudent to consider it or parts of it as trade dress. "Secondary meaning" is the inextricable association of your product's "look and feel" with your brand. For example, the Eames ® chair by Herman Miller ® is also protected as trade dress. While not every piece of furniture is worthy of inclusion in the Museum of Modern Art, your trade dress is certainly worth protecting.
Furniture design, manufacturing and retailing is a vast and multi-faceted industry. There are literally thousands of individual elements that go into the making of a single loveseat. Each element has been interpreted and created by innovative professionals. Preserving the intellectual property contained in each loveseat may seem laborious and time-consuming, especially in the face of a hyper-competitive, instantaneous global market. It would be easy, yet short-sighted, to succumb to making cheap products without regard for those unique elements and the people who created them. For those in it for the long run, a wise IP strategy creates compounding benefits in brand recognition, product quality, consumer preference, artistic expression and company revenue. To fully protect products, furniture manufacturers and/or designers should consult with experienced IP counsel early in the development process.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
