Telia is not a brand recognized in the U.S. but parent company Deutsche Telekom parent company of T-mobile is and many of you might recall that in the past that they have taken steps to keep competitors from using magenta in their branding.

This time however they weren’t successful in their action and I just posted a short article about the outcome of this legal action…

To promote their colorful spring and summer collections, Gap enlisted Chris Do and the Blind team to create a video for Danish post-punk duo Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo, better known as The Raveonettes. With only three weeks to conceive and complete the project, the team executed an edgy and elegant exploration of the contradictory forces that black and white represent.

See the storyboards and read more on BL:ND

Click here to view the embedded video.

After five years and millions of dollars in legal fees the Federal Court ruled that Cadbury does not own the color and is not entitled to the exclusive use of dark purple.

Cadbury maintains its position and is likely to appeal.

Hear the ABC News interview here…

What do you think? Should Cadbury be able to protect their brand color?

It’s all about what that splash of colour reminds us of. Whether it says quality, style, value, exclusivity or something else, the tiny splash of colour speaks to us.

When someone sees your splash of colour – be it on your logo, your corporate branding, your uniform, your office walls, your signage, your business card – what does it signify to them? What does it remind them to remember about your company, your business, your brand?

Read the article…

Americans have been celebrating St. Patrick’s Day since the 1850′s. But if you’re knowledge of Irish history only goes as deep as a mug of green beer you might be surprised to learn that in Ireland this holiday is not celebrated as wildly as in the U.S. and that there is not a historic connection between green and St. Patrick.

It is only in modern times that green has become associated with St. Patrick’s Day. Blue, not green, is the color long associated with St. Patrick.

A green shamrock was a symbol that St. Patrick had used to explain the Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian Irish and ‘the wearing of the green’ meant to wear a shamrock to display your faith.

It is widely believed that beginning in the mid-1700’s people mistook the phrase to mean wearing green garments and we all know the rest of the story…the wearing of green has become ubiquitous with St. Patrick’s Day.

In fact green has become so strongly attached not just to this holiday but to Ireland many believe that it is the ‘official’ color of the country. While there is no official color two hues of blue, St. Patrick’s Blue and Presidential Blue are widely used by the Government of Ireland.

Presidential Blue is darker than St. Patrick’s Blue and both can be seen the football (soccer) uniforms of Dublin County and the liveries of Aer Lingus. Presidential Blue appears in the Irish Crest and St. Patrick’s Blue can be seen behind the gold bardic harp on on the ancient Irish flag.

So while I’ll still be ‘wearing the green’ today my heart will be ‘true blue’ all the way down to my Irish roots.

PS- I can’t help but wonder if the green really came about when the first creative pub owner tried to make blue beer. Blue food color + yellow beer…oops! Hmm, how can we spin this? Can’t let all that good beer go to waste! ☺

Happy St. Paddy’s Day