Anyone remember that time T-Mobile tried to get Engadget Mobile to change their colours?<p><a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/31/deutsche-telekom-t-mobile-demands-engadget-mobile-discontinue/" rel="nofollow">http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/31/deutsche-telekom-t-mobile...</a>
<a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/01/painting-the-town-magenta/" rel="nofollow">http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/01/painting-the-town-magenta...</a>
Yes. See the case of In re Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp., 774 F.2d 1116 (Fed. Cir. 1985). Here's a copy of the decision: <a href="http://ftp.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/774/774.F2d.1116.84-1416.html" rel="nofollow">http://ftp.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/774/774.F2d.1116.84-...</a>
When I worked at UPS, they told us the company had a trademark on "Pullman Brown". Not sure if that's actually true or not (can't find reliable info with a quick search).
According to this article YSL made a pair of completely red heel, top and bottom, which is what landed them in this lawsuit. <a href="http://www.inquisitr.com/133848/louboutin-battle-yves-saint-laurent-red-soles/" rel="nofollow">http://www.inquisitr.com/133848/louboutin-battle-yves-saint-...</a><p>This use of red seems very different from contrasting soles - and having a trademark that blocks red high heels seems a bit overreaching to me.
"lastminute.com", "lastminute" and the colour magenta are all trade marks owned by Last Minute Network Limited and/or its group companies.<p>The T-MOBILE acoustic logo, and the color magenta are registered and/or unregistered trademarks of Deutsche Telekom AG in the US and/or other countries
On the Australian ANZ Bank page : <a href="http://www.anz.com.au" rel="nofollow">http://www.anz.com.au</a><p>The footer contains the text "ANZ's colour blue is a trade mark of ANZ."<p>The actual web site contains multiple blues, so I am wondering which exact one they have trademarked?
I remember Cadbury (the chocolate company) tried to trademark the color purple. I think they failed at it because “purple” apparently wasn't a clear and concise description of the trademark.
"Color Pink® and Pink Nitrile® are registered Trademarks of Colur World, LLC."<p>You can find that disclaimer on any site containing mentions of pink nitrile gloves for use in hospitals.
You shouldn't be able to trademark colours, but a specific colour on a specific area of a specific item (red soled shoes), that others copy purely so customers are confused about the brand image, does sound more like what is needed.
Pantone seems to think you can: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantone#Intellectual_property" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantone#Intellectual_property</a>
Yes you should be able to trademark colors. Also, people should be allowed to trademark specific tones, like middle 'C' on the piano. I bought that one, you can't use it.