Dupes, Knockoffs, and Trade Dress: What Beauty Brands Can Actually Do About Copycats

Dupe culture has become a defining feature of the beauty industry. TikTok and Reddit threads dedicated to finding “dupes,” cheaper alternatives that look nearly identical to a more expensive product, generate millions of views. Some of this is harmless consumer behavior: a drugstore moisturizer that performs comparably to a luxury one is not a legal problem. But when another brand copies your packaging, your colorway, your aesthetic, or your product presentation in a way designed to make consumers think they are buying your product, or something affiliated with it, you have a legal problem on your hands. And so do they.

The good news is that beauty brands have real legal tools to fight this. Understanding them is the first step.

The Difference Between a “Dupe” and a Legal Violation

Not every dupe is actionable. Under US law, the general rule is that you cannot own a product category, a product type, or a generic aesthetic. If another brand launches a serum in a glass dropper bottle, that alone is not infringement. Glass dropper bottles are functional and widely used, and no single brand can lock up that format.

What crosses the legal line is when another brand’s product creates a likelihood of confusion, meaning a reasonable consumer might be confused about the source of the product, or might mistakenly believe the two products are affiliated, endorsed by the same company, or from the same brand family.

The key legal theories beauty brands can pursue are:

• Trademark infringement: if another brand uses a name, logo, or mark that is confusingly similar to your registered trademark
• Trade dress infringement: if another brand copies the overall visual appearance of your product or packaging in a way that consumers associate with your brand
• Unfair competition: a broader catch-all that covers deceptive business practices, including false designation of origin

What Is Trade Dress?

Trade dress is one of the most powerful and most underused protections available to beauty brands. It protects the overall commercial image of a product: the total look and feel that consumers associate with a particular source.

Trade dress can include:

• The shape, size, and color scheme of product packaging
• The arrangement of design elements on a label
• A distinctive combination of colors used consistently across a product line
• The shape of a product container (think of Chanel No. 5’s bottle)
• The overall visual presentation of a retail display or website

To be protectable, trade dress must be:

1. Distinctive: either inherently distinctive (think an unusual packaging shape no one else uses) or having acquired distinctiveness through long use in commerce (consumers associate that look with your brand)
2. Non-functional: the feature being protected cannot be necessary to the function of the product or essential to competition in the market
3. Likely to cause confusion if used by another party. The standard is whether a reasonable consumer would be confused about the source of the product

Trade dress can be registered with the USPTO, which gives you the same benefits as trademark registration: national priority, the presumption of validity, and the ability to seek statutory damages. Unregistered trade dress can also be protected under federal unfair competition law and state law, but registered trade dress is significantly stronger.

How Courts Analyze the “Likelihood of Confusion”

When a beauty brand files a trade dress or trademark infringement claim, courts apply a multi-factor test to determine whether consumer confusion is likely. In the Third Circuit (which covers Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware), courts consider:

• The degree of similarity between the two products
• The strength of the original brand’s trade dress or mark
• The price points and sophistication of consumers
• Evidence of actual consumer confusion
• The channels of trade and marketing
• Whether the alleged infringer intended to cause confusion

Evidence of actual confusion is particularly powerful. Screenshots of consumers on social media commenting “is this the same as [your brand]?” or “did [your brand] make this?” can be significant evidence in your favor.

What You Can Do When You Spot a Copycat

If you believe another brand has copied your trade dress, packaging, or visual identity, here are the steps to consider:

1. Document Everything Immediately

Screenshot the competing product across all platforms where it appears: the brand’s website, their Amazon or Sephora listing, their social media. Note the date. Download images. If the product is available to purchase, buy a sample. Physical evidence matters.

2. Get a Legal Assessment

Before you send anything or post anything publicly, talk to an attorney. Not every similarity is actionable, and an aggressive public response to a non-actionable situation can backfire, both commercially and legally. A proper infringement analysis tells you what you have, what your options are, and how strong your position is.

3. Understand Your Enforcement Options

Your options range from informal to formal:

• Cease and desist letter: a formal demand from your attorney requiring the infringer to stop using the infringing trade dress or mark. This is often the first step, and many disputes resolve here.
• Platform takedowns: if the infringing product is being sold on Amazon, Etsy, Shopify storefronts, or advertised on Meta or TikTok, platform IP policies provide takedown procedures that can be faster than litigation.
• Federal lawsuit: for significant infringement causing real commercial harm, a federal lawsuit can seek injunctive relief (stopping the infringing activity), recovery of profits, actual damages, and with a registered trademark or trade dress, statutory damages.

4. Register Your Trade Dress Now

If you have a distinctive product aesthetic that you have not yet registered, do it. The registration process takes time, often over a year, and your rights are significantly stronger with a registration than without one.

The Social Media Problem

One of the most common scenarios I see is a brand posting about a copycat on Instagram or TikTok, tagging the infringing brand, and essentially crowdsourcing outrage. This can feel satisfying, but it creates legal complications.

Publicly accusing another company of infringement, particularly if you have not yet had an attorney assess whether the claim is valid, can expose you to defamation or unfair competition counterclaims. It can also give the other side notice before you have protected your own rights. And it hands control of the situation to the internet rather than keeping it where it belongs: with you and your legal team.

If you spot a copycat, talk to your attorney first. Then decide how, and whether, to communicate publicly.

The Bottom Line for Beauty Founders

Dupe culture is not going away. But the brands that are best positioned to fight back are the ones that have done the legal groundwork:

• Registered trademarks for their name, logo, and distinctive marks
• Registered trade dress for distinctive packaging and product presentation
• Documentation of their brand’s distinctiveness over time, showing that consumers associate that look with their brand

Building a brand without building the legal foundation beneath it is one of the most common and most expensive mistakes in the beauty industry. The enforcement options are real. The question is whether you have done the work to use them.

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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For guidance specific to your situation, book a consultation with Antonella Colella, Esq.