Product configuration -- the shape of the product itself -- can be protected as trade dress, but American law draws the boundary deliberately tight to keep competition free. This UpLaw analysis treats the subject as competition policy first and doctrine second. It explains the baseline right to copy unpatented articles under Sears, Compco, and Bonito Boats; the channeling principle that routes function to patent law and source-identification to trademark law; the secondary-meaning wall of Wal-Mart v. Samara; and the functionality safety valve sharpened by TrafFix and the Third Circuit's Pocky decision. It maps the four overlapping regimes -- utility patent, design patent, trade dress, and post-Star Athletica copyright -- and shows how to sequence and layer them on purpose. It closes with USPTO and TTAB registration practice, a comparative look abroad, and the frontier problems of 3D printing, virtual goods, and cumulative over-protection.