You should register your color trademark to stop people from copying your brand. Find out what a color trademark is and why you might want to get one.

A color trademark is not the same as the color of a brand. Even if a brand’s logo has a TM or ® symbol on it, that doesn’t mean that the color or colors are protected by law. The TM and ® marks on McDonald’s and Starbucks show that the company owns the image, symbol, word, or a combination of both.

The 2017 Trademark Rules set up the new system by including rules for color marks in the new set of rules. A color mark is a non-traditional trademark that identifies a company’s goods or services by using a single color or a combination of colors.

You will be Interested on : UAE Trademark Registration

Table of Contents

What is a Color Trademark?

A color trademark is a symbol or logo that a company uses to show what it stands for. A corporate identity mark is another name for it. In this case, the color is the brand. Trademarks protect the way a certain color is used in a certain market. When you see chocolate candy in a purple wrapper, you know it’s Cadbury. When you see a turquoise jewellery box, you know it’s from Tiffany & Co. The color of Vanish is pink. They have the chance to show through marketing that their color trademark can set their goods apart from those made by another company.

Section 10 of the Act says that a trademark can only be made up of one color or a mix of colors. This means that the law lets a single color or a combination of colors be registered as a trademark, with the goal of letting people know where goods or services come from.

What are the characteristics of a color trademark?

The Trade Marks Act of 1999 says that a “mark” is any of the following: a device, a brand, a heading, a label, a ticket, a name, a signature, a word, a letter, a number, the shape of goods or packaging, or any combination of colors.
According to the law, you can get a trademark for a single color or a mix of colors.
Let’s say the applicant wants to get a trademark for a certain color. In that case, he will have to show proof that the claimed color or color combination is only associated with the applicant or only identifies their goods.
So, it will help if the applicant can show that the specific color is linked to the applicant and/or his products and/or services.

Keep reading : How to Register Trademark in the UAE

Why Trademark Colors Matter

Colors can change how people think about a product. Things can be linked to a color in a literal or figurative way to make people feel a certain way. For example, green is often used for healthy or organic food, while blue can be used for food that is frozen or cold. Some color combinations or aesthetic qualities might go well together, but that’s not a given. Since green and yellow are similar, they seem to go well together. Colors that are bright and catchy may have certain effects on the way things look. Some colors are so bright that they catch your eye right away. Some can make text easier to read.

Certain colors are used to make some products stand out from the rest of the crowd. These goods can be anything from industrial equipment to goods for everyday use. Sometimes, these colors are used to make packaging stand out. For example, Kodak puts its film in a black-and-yellow box, while Fuji puts its film in a green box. Products can also have packaging styles that make them easy to spot. For example, laundry detergents often come in blue, orange, or yellow packaging. Even if the colors are the same, the package and label may be very different. The same colors, label layouts, and shapes can occasionally confuse people. If the package looks too much like another, a customer might get confused and buy the wrong thing.

You will be Interested on : Trademark Registration Process in UAE

Can you claim a trademark color?

In short, yes, it is possible to register a color. Still, a color can only be registered under very specific conditions. Legal precedent says that a color that is “functional,” either because it is useful or because it looks good, may not be protected as a trademark. A color is utilitarian if it is necessary for how the product is used, how well it works, or how much it costs. If using a color exclusively hurts a competitor a lot, it is atheistically functional. The following list of things can help you figure out how useful a color is:

Whether the design (or color) is useful Whether there are other designs (or colors) to choose from;
Whether advertising points out the design’s (or color’s) practical benefits and if the design was made because it was easy or cheap to make (or color),

It’s important to remember that the U.S. Supreme Court said colors can “sometimes” be protected by a trademark, but only “when that color has attained secondary meaning” and therefore identifies and distinguishes a particular brand (and thus indicates its source).

You will be Interested on : Rights of a Trademark Owner

Can you claim the name of a color as a trademark?

Sometimes, UPS has registered “Brown” as a trademark. Still, there are problems with some applications. In 2006, Syracuse University filed for a trademark for the word “orange” so that it could use it on clothing for its sports teams. “Orange” is what the school’s sports teams are called. The University of Tennessee, Boise State University, The University of the Pacific, Oklahoma State University, Clemson University, The University of Florida, and Auburn University have all said they don’t agree with the trademark application. Reports say that the colleges are

What Kinds of Trademark Colors are there?

Some common colors that are used as trademarks are:

Green-gold, Qualitex
Tiffany Blue
Target Red
Cadbury Purple
Barbie Pink
Home Depot Orange
T-Mobile Magenta
Wiffle-Ball Yellow
UPS Brown
Coca-Cola Red
Christian Louboutin Red Soles
Pepto-Bismol Pink

Keep reading : Information on Trademark Registration in UAE

Why Choose a Combination of Colors to Register as a Trademark Instead of a Single Color?

Since the Trademark Rules were put in place in India in 1999, it has been possible to register single colors or groups of colors as trademarks. But the applicant should keep in mind that it is very hard to register a single color.
It’s hard to remember a single color because they all look the same. The person applying will have to show proof that the color is related to the product or service. When filing, the person who wants to use a color combination must say what makes it unique.

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