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Did you know that a color, by itself, can serve as a trademark for your product or service?  Below are some examples of companies and their famous color marks:

According to its website, Owens Corning was the first to register a color trademark, which was for this pink hue that distinguishes its fiberglass insulation.  Owens Corning went the extra step to double down on the color by also licensing the animated “Pink Panther” from MGM for advertising purposes.

This gold-green shade was the subject of a Supreme Court case that ultimately affirmed the availability of trademark protection for colors.  Qualitex uses this particular color on its dry-cleaning pads and, as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision, was ultimately able to enforce that mark against a competitor. 

Hershey holds a trademark for the orange color associated with its Reese’s branded peanut butter cups.  The color stands out in the candy aisle due to its extensive coverage of the packaging and is prominently displayed in its television advertising.

UPS has a registered trademark for the highly recognizable “Pullman Brown” color painted on its delivery trucks.  When one of these vehicles pulls up in front of your house, you immediately know who is handling your parcel.  UPS has even called itself by the color in some of its advertisements: “What can BROWN do for you?”

A blue shade reminiscent of a robin’s egg has adorned jewelry boxes and bags from Tiffany & Co. for decades. 

The ground rules for being able to claim a trademark on the use of a color for your product or service are fairly straightforward. 

  1. The color must identify and distinguish your goods or services from those made or sold by others and indicate their source.  That is, consumers must correlate the color with the company – for example, if I see pink insulation, I know that insulation is coming from Owens Corning.  In many of the examples above, the mark holders have incorporated their colors into their branding message for years.  While not a necessity, consumers will be quicker to associate a color with a company (thereby giving it distinctiveness) when the color is actively being promoted.
  2. The color cannot be functional, meaning the color cannot be essential to the use or purpose of the good or service.  Take the dry cleaning pad as an example.  If the cleaning pad had to be gold-green in color in order for the cleaning pad to function properly, the color could not serve as a trademark.  Granting a trademark in that circumstance would allow its holder to effectively create a monopoly over the cleaning pads themselves, which is not the intent of trademarks. 

As with any other aspect of the law, the facts and circumstances regarding whether a color can serve as a trademark are different for every situation, so always be sure to consult a qualified attorney, such as Panitch Schwarze’s trademark team, before proceeding. 


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