RE: copyrighting colors?

[zielinskic@xxxxxxx]

As Adam writes, colours have been successfully trademarked (the Milka
purple, Philmac terracotta, etc. There's an interesting short piece on the
topic here: http://www.cpd.com.au/cpdnews/rr/archive/RR167.htm (scroll down
about halfway).

Chris

Chris Zielinski 
STP AHSPR-RPC/EIP 
World Health Organization 
Avenue Appia, CH1211, Geneva, Switzerland 
Office: 004122-7914435 Home: 004122-3100551 Mobile: 0044-7971045354


-----Original Message-----
From: Adam Kessel [mailto:adam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, 25 March 2004 15:45
To: digital-copyright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: copyrighting colors?


On Wed, Mar 24, 2004 at 05:18:52PM -0800, Paul Adams wrote:
> I have had two people tell me recently that colors can be copyrighted.
This
> doesn't makes sense to me, as colors do not seem like intellectual
property.
> I can't find anything about this from the Copyright Office site. Can
anyone
> give me the scoop?

Are you sure they weren't talking about trademarks?  In Qualitex Co.  v.
Jacobson Products Co., Inc., 514 U.S. 159 (1995), the Supreme Court held
that color alone can be registered as a trademark if the color has
acquired secondary meaning and is not functional.  

See, e.g.,

A report on the case
<http://www.gibney.com/LegalNews/Record/colortrademark.cfm>

The opinion itself
<http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/93-1577.ZS.html>
-- 
Adam Kessel
http://adam.rosi-kessel.org

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