The Colour Purple: The Sequel

I've written on colour trade marks before. Being the attorney who successfully acted against Cadbury some years ago and prevented the registration of the colour purple as a trade mark in South Africa, I have followed these issues very closely and that particular trade mark application around the world. One issue that certainly caught the public's attention was Christian Louboutin's attempt to monopolise the colour red for shoes – a US appeals court finally ruled that Louboutin's US trade mark registration for red-soled shoes was valid, but that it was limited to shoes that have a red sole which contrasts with the rest of the shoe. As such, the registration did not stop rivals selling all-red shoes.  The other big story was the battle between Cadbury and Nestle regarding the colour purple. What happened here was that Cadbury applied to register the colour purple as a trade mark in the UK for chocolate products, and Nestle opposed that application.