Color: The Next Limited Resource?

[Are_grits_groceries]

As a designer, it is important to be aware of the trending colors, and how they are being applied in products and work produced today. What really isn’t being discussed by the design world at large though are the limitations being set on color. Color is as free for us to use as the air we breathe… or is it?
<snip>
The Battle for Color
For companies, color has become one of the most important identifiers. More often than not, colors are how you recognize and associate products to that brand.

Marketing research has found 80% of visual information is related to color. It’s not just a green, a red, a blue, or a magenta. It’s "Starbucks Green", "Coke Red", "Gap Blue", and "T-Mobile Magenta."
<snip>
T-Mobile owns the color Magenta
The most interesting and polemic story of a brand buying and claiming a color space is with T-Mobile (Deutsche Telekom). They have trademarked the color magenta.

Yes, T-Mobile owns the rights to magenta.
They have been enforcing this over the years suing companies like a book-on-demand publisher, and most recently, in the blog Engadget Mobile.

In addition to a trademarked color, some companies are also trademarking the actual name of the color.

The insulation company Owens–Corning, known for their The Pink Panther commercials, have registered the term "PINK" (in capital letters only) in reference to its insulation.

UPS is one of the best-known companies of the world, shipping us our goods ordered from across the world to our doorstep. They trademarked the slogan "What can Brown do for you?"

The Europe-based mobile network operator and internet service provider, Orange, uses the color Orange both in its logo and as the trademarked company name.
<snip>
Who owns color?
On one side, companies need to protect their brand identity, which they’ve invested much capital into. On the other side, there are designers and artists trying to create great work with a limited color palette.
http://sixrevisions.com/web_design/color-the-next-limited-resource/

Who knew??? I have dibs on puke green.

As far as I am concerned, if anybody should own color it would be Crayola.

[Monk06]

1. The first colour patented was International Klein Blue

By Yves Klein 1972

[murielm99]

4. That's Cubbie blue, and don't you forget it! n/t

[zeos3]

5. +1

[XemaSab]

11. Known as "blue chip"

in my bedroom. :P

[Monk06]

12. I don't know the Yves was a Cubs fan but he was fond of painted ladies

[Ineeda]

2. Wow. How can the ownership of an actual color be legally sustained?

The name of a color, maybe, but that's almost ambiguous. Yellow can't be called magenta but any color has a range. Light magenta, dark magenta, magenta that's a little more blue than red, etc. Freaky world we live in, huh?

[SoCalDem]

3. One would think that Crayola Co. would have first dibs on all colors

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crayola



Crayola is a brand of artistry supplies manufactured by Crayola LLC—founded in 1885 as Binney & Smith—best known for its almost ubiquitous crayons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuchsia_%28color%29

Before 1958, the color magenta was called brilliant rose in Crayola crayons. (See the website "Lost Crayola Crayon Colors": <1>) After 1958, the name of the color was changed to Magenta, though the Crayola color magenta is not identical to the web color fuchsia--it is much closer to the color Rose.

[Life Long Dem]

6. Yeah, a big rush on colors.

AT&T bought out Cingular and now I don't know which color AT&T is. I guess they are the old Cingular orange now.

[DRoseDARs]

7. Know Your Rights: Does T-Mobile really own magenta?

Short answer: No.

"Chill out, Sparky. T-Mobile doesn't "own" anything here, least of all a color. That's the part everyone seems to have missed. T-Mobile has what appears to be a German trademark on that specific magenta color (RAL 4010, specifically) as it relates to their branding, but that doesn't really affect the average consumer."

"So in order to "own" magenta and enforce its trademark against you, T-Mobile would basically have to prove that you're advertising or selling a telecommunications service with a super similar shade of magenta that everyone recognizes as being T-Mobile's in a way that makes people think T-Mobile is affiliated with you"

[Are_grits_groceries]

8. "Sparky" is chill.

I didn't think the 'Color Commandos' would be at my door. However, in light of all the unknown legal maneuvers being carried out to and fro, nothing would surprise me.

[DRoseDARs]

9. That was a direct quote from the Engadget Mobile article, not me calling you "Sparky"

Just so we're clear, Sparky.

;)

[Are_grits_groceries]

14. Sparky says

:hi:

[DemBones DemBones]

10. Not Crayola, but Pantone

"If there is anyone that could say they own color, it would be Pantone. They have a monopoly on it in the truest sense. Every color you have ever seen used has been indexed and named by Pantone."

"What Pantone has done is not a bad thing; in fact, it has done the world (especially designers) a favor. They have taken color from a chaotic Tower of Babel scenario with everyone talking about colors in very different ways and brought us all on to the same page. Literally. Their paint chip and fabric swatch books sit on the desks of designers everywhere."

[nemo137]

13. I was actually thinking that upthread

Did T-Mobile copyright and specific Pantone shade, and if so, how'd they manage it?