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Welcome to the Malloy & Malloy, P.L.
Intellectual Property law Blog
Our goal is to provide some general information about recent developments and interesting news impacting Patent, Trademark and Copyright Issues. Please feel free to check back often for the latest.
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A Colorable Trademark Dispute
11-29-2010 [Ben Hanrahan] [Permalink]Unbeknownst to many, a federal trademark registration can consist of a specific color as applied to certain designated goods. As the owner of such a registration, in a complaint filed last week, The Hershey Company alleged trademark infringement, dilution, false designation of origin and unfair competition against one of its largest competitors, Mars Incorporated, for adopting an orange background color on its Dove candy packaging similar to the orange packaging on Hershey’s line of Reese’s chocolate and peanut butter products.
Specifically, Hershey is alleging infringement of its registered trademark for an orange-colored background covering the packaging of candy with peanut butter as the characterizing flavor (TM Reg. No. 2,256,226). The registration identifies the color as being "approximately equivalent to pantone 165C." In addition, Hershey claims that through extensive use, sales and promotion of its Reese’s candy, the orange-colored packaging has become famous and indicative of Hershey’s products.
Other well-known registered colors include the color pink as applied to building insulation (owned by Owens Corning, Reg. No. 2,380,742) and the color brown as applied to transportation and delivery of personal property by air and motor vehicle (owned by United Parcel Service of America, Reg. No. 2,901,090) as exemplified below.
