In a judgment handed down on 21 October 2010, the Polish Supreme
Court ruled that trademark protection cannot be used to monopolise
individual colours; the spectrum is limited and it would not be in
line with public interest or expectation to grant exclusivity over
a particular colour.
Combinations of colours are commonly recognised by domestic and
international courts as marks that can be distinctive in relation
to goods or services. However, the Supreme Court ruled that
trademark rights are only infringed when the proportion of colours
and the manner in which those colours have been used cause the risk
of confusion with the registered combination of colours.
The case concerned a claim by BP that its characteristic green and
yellow colours was being used by another petrol station owner in
its furnishings and decoration.
The Supreme Court ruling upheld BP's rights over the registered
colour combination but did not prohibit the other petrol station
from using different shades of the same colour combination in a
different format so that the mark was not misleadingly similar to
BP's.
This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq
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The original publication date for this article was 05/11/2010.