Look and feel of a website may be protected as trade dress

Michael Aiken of the McCoy Law Group writes that aside from the copyright protections afforded the text and artistic intangibles on a website, there may be protected value in the “look and feel.”  He admits the case law is skimpy (read developing). In order for such protection to exist, the website features qualifying for trade dress must be distinctive, non-functional (Aiken points out this includes ecommerce elements that have alternative ways to perform the function), and there has to be a likelihood of confusion.