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T-Mobile demand Lemonade to stop using the color magenta

thehustle.co

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Re: T-Mobile demand Lemonade to stop using the color magenta

#61

Post by TimTheTinker »

This is incredibly ridiculous. If a color can be owned by a trademark, what’s to prevent a particular audio frequency being trademarked, or a particular temperature, or a particular luminosity? What if my construction company trademarked “8 meters” — could I go and sue everyone who builds 8-meter-high buildings from then on?

Good on Lemonade for fighting it. But something is really wrong with the world when claims like Deutsche Telekom’s are taken seriously in the first place.

This is almost like the “illegal number” involved in decss years ago. Here’s the color: #e20074

Re: T-Mobile demand Lemonade to stop using the color magenta

#62

Post by JadeNB »

cgb223 wrote: post #20

I hate when I buy renters insurance only to find out it’s a national cellphone carrier...

Not that it makes it much less silly, but the article mentions:

> The problem is, T-Mobile actually does offer insurance on services like cybersecurity and tech-gadget protection policies, which could add a touch of gray to the magenta dispute.

Re: T-Mobile demand Lemonade to stop using the color magenta

#63

Post by red_trumpet »

freehunter wrote: post #35
jascii wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to the article, there might be a problem there as T-Mobile does offer several forms of insurance: Things like mobile device insurance and cybersecurity insurance.

And therein lies the obvious conclusion of allowing conglomerations. If one company has their foot in every possible industry, they can yield control far beyond what would normally be considered unreasonable. I mean we are actually discussing “T-Mobile isn’t a mobile carrier, they’re an insurance company”.

Rather "T-Mobile I'd a mobile carrier AND an insurance company".

Re: T-Mobile demand Lemonade to stop using the color magenta

#64

Post by reaperducer »

ryanmercer wrote: post #38
mendelk wrote: post #24

For those curious, based on the CSS on their respective websites, they aren't _exactly_ the same HEX color, just pretty similar. (Lemonade is #ff0083, while T-Mobile is #e20074. Comparison here: https://www.colorcombos.com/combotester.html?color0=e20074&c... )

Is this really what companies worry about? An insurance (edit: ha, I thought it was a beverage company until I read another comment) company is using a similar colour as our telecommunications company so let's get lawyers involved?

Yes, they do.

Lots of companies trademark their brand colors. UPS has a particular shade of brown.

There are others, including 3M, Barbie pink, the yellow of a Wiffle Ball bat, and Cadbury purple.

Re: T-Mobile demand Lemonade to stop using the color magenta

#65

Post by makecheck »

Protections should only apply to things that add something beyond basic elements. For example, it might make sense to allow a particular pairing of colors to be attributed and protected, since that at least requires more creativity than picking a single color.

This is like telling everyone that you now own the letter “D” so no one can ever use that in a word again.

Re: T-Mobile demand Lemonade to stop using the color magenta

#67

Post by soamv »

ummonk wrote: post #37
rflrob wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A comment elsewhere here links to a color comparison. Looking at them, I doubt I could tell you which one is T-Mobile and which is Lemonade with confidence greater than chance.

Oh, I could immediately recognize which one was T-Mobile when I looked at the comparison. T-Mobile has a subdued magenta, whereas Lemonade uses bright hot pink. You can see the stark difference on their websites as well (though when you hover over one of the Lemonade buttons, it looks practically identical to the T-Mobile magenta).

I believe both of you :) Human color perception is weird like that.

Re: T-Mobile demand Lemonade to stop using the color magenta

#68

Post by bityard »

TimTheTinker wrote: post #61

This is incredibly ridiculous. If a color can be owned by a trademark, what’s to prevent a particular audio frequency being trademarked, or a particular temperature, or a particular luminosity? What if my construction company trademarked “8 meters” — could I go and sue everyone who builds 8-meter-high buildings from then on? Good on Lemonade for fighting it. But something is really wrong with the world when claims li…

You sound surprised that it is possible to trademark a color. This has been part of intellectual property law for quite some time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_trade_mark

I'm not saying I agree that colors should be trademarked, just that it's fairly common practice.

Re: T-Mobile demand Lemonade to stop using the color magenta

#69

Post by alluro2 »

onychomys wrote: post #56

Although this is clearly ridiculous, it does seem a little odd that Lemonade isn't using a bright shade of yellow.

I was slightly irritated by the same - what's the logic behind such branding? Imagine "Orange Mobile" using purple as their primary brand color...

Re: T-Mobile demand Lemonade to stop using the color magenta

#70

Post by cameldrv »

thrower123 wrote: post #59

It's not unprecedented, by any means. John Deere has won cases against companies using its trademarked green and yellow color scheme. Granted, that was within the same industry. https://www.deere.com/en/our-company/news-and-announcements/...

Green and Yellow, on tractors, is quite a bit more narrow than Magenta, in any industry.
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