Trademarks identify the uniqueness of products with special packaging, signs, labels, etc. British confectionary company Cadbury has being fighting for its lawsuit to register its distinctive packaging purple color defined as Pantone 2685C; however, it was denied after its five-year battle in the appeal court in London on Friday, Oct. 4th. The big rival on court is one of the largest food company Nestle, which brought up a testimony that a UK chocolate manufacturer has maintained a use of a particular shade of purple since WWI.
What’s wrong with Cadbury officially applying for its distinctive “shade of purple” which has been recognizedly used for packing since the 20th as a trademark? Cadbury responded to the “unfair competitive advantage” of trademarking Pantone 2685C by arguing that “so many other shades were available there” for other manufacturers. In people’s minds with conventional trademarks, they are usually uniquely designed logos such as “Coca-Cola” and “H&M”, a distinctive symbol such as a bitten apple for “Apple” and a rabbit head“Playboy”, or artistic patterns such as Burberry’s check design. Maybe the recognitions of colors, smells or even sounds as one’ trademark are not acceptable yet for it will create new conceptual complicities.
The formal lawsuit testimony below put Cadbury’s trademark application to death sentence. “The mark applied for thus lacks the required clarity, precision, self-containment, durability and objectivity to qualify for registration.”
Trademark plays an important role in branding and marking for a company. It adds to the points of difference in determining the value proposition of a company. Therefore this is why Cadbury would fight for this battle for five years and its competitor Nestle would join in the appeal court to overturn the recognition of Pantone 2685C as its trademark. Before the unconventional trademarks like colors become more relevant and credible for the market, use of Pantone 2685C has to maintain publicly useable for other manufacturers.
Works cited & more reading:
“Cadbury denied right to trademark Dairy Milk purple”. FRIDAY, OCT 4, 2013. <http://www.salon.com/2013/10/04/cadbury_denied_right_to_trademark_dairy_milk_purple_newscred/>.