I was recently asked if using the color of another well known brand can be a trademark infringement. The issue is whether a seller can legitimately obtain exclusive rights under the law of trademarks in a single color of its products. There have been cases where the courts held that a single color can become a registered trademark but there was some caution and possible defenses in a trademark infringement litigation case that may follow.
It currently appears that in order to obtain the exclusive rights to a color it cannot be divorced from a product. In other words you cannot get the exclusive rights in a color per se. For example, a company might be able to establish trademark rights in the greenish-gold color of a cleaning press pad cover, but a company that makes and sells a product could not legitimately claim exclusive rights to use a particular color in any fashion whatsoever in advertising the product or packaging the product.
Trademark issues are often complex and if faced with this or similar issues it is important you contact an attorney versed in trademark rights and the law of unfair business competition.
Robert G. Klein is a lawyer in the Los Angeles area and is a business litigation attorney specializing in trademark litigation, trade secrets, unfair business competition, fraud in business transactions, breach of contracts, and business torts. He has been lead trial attorney in approximately 60 trials and has obtained multi-million dollar jury verdicts for his clients. Mr. Klein can be reached at (213) 996-8508