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…

Vero on Taptology responded by posting the following:

“I bow down to Engadget’s creative response. Note the header changes:”

I thought you would enjoy it has much as I did. For more comments from Vero at Taptology see ‘The Campaign to Set Magenta Free’…

And an additional post on engadget.com…

Thanks to reader Dave for sending me the link to this post on Owning Color…

Below are two of 15 cartoons. See the slide show here…

Color is so important as a brand attribute that companies have engaged
in legal battles in an effort to claim ownership of a particular color
or color set. It is understandable that if a company has used a
particular color as its main source of branding in a specific industry
and a competitor uses color in a way that seems to take advantage of
that success in the same market that they would see it as unfair.

But should a business be allowed to trademark a color or color set?
This is often a topic of heated discussion that leads to questions such
as:

“Does that mean that at some point we will run out of colors that we

can legally use for a particular type of business?”

“Will we exhaust the supply of “attractive, usable” colors within

each competing industry?”

” I mean can someone really own a color?”

It makes me think back to when I was about five years old and my
favorite pastime was coloring. I would sit down at the kitchen table,
place my “Rainbow Brite” coloring book in front of me and open a
massive three-tiered box of Crayola crayons.

I would search for my favorite color crayon, “Sea Blue” and after what
seemed like hours of rummaging I would hear a squeal, look up and see
my younger sister gleefully scribbling on some paper, using MY COLOR!

Although simplistic, you can probably relate to that type of
aggravation and understand the frustration of these multi-million
dollar companies filing color trademark lawsuits. They just want their
crayon back.

Can you identify these companies by their color scheme?

In Australia, the chocolate maker alleged that since 2001, Darrell Lea has consistently used a colour bearing a “striking and obvious” likeness to “Cadbury Purple” in its signage, badging, wrapping, store fit-out and point of sale facilities but In April last year, a Federal Court judge dismissed Cadbury’s claim.

Justice Peter Heerey found Cadbury did not own the colour purple and Darrell Lea’s use of the colour was not likely to convey to the reasonable consumer that it was associated with its rival.

However, three Federal Court justices in Melbourne today allowed Cadbury’s appeal and ordered a new trial at the same court.

Read the story at news.com.au