Copyrights and trade marks

[whole diary]

[Tim]

I hereby claim the colour magnolia as my trademark. Use it if you like, but I want 5p per wall.

Not really how it works.  You can claim it as a trademark (put "TM^‡(resolve)" on your magnolia walls if that makes you feel better - Trademark lawyers sometimes refer to "TM" as "totally meaningless"), but the mark will only be validly registered (entitling you to use the (R) symbol, the use of which would otherwise be a criminal offense) if your mark meets the criteria (essentially of it having inherent or acquired distinctiveness which is capable of acting as a sign for the source of goods or services).  It would only be registered for the goods and services in your specification.

And even if you got magnolia registered.  I'd only be infringing if I used it in the course of trade to offer identical or similar goods or services under the mark.

[Tim]

easyGroup which includes easyJet is another where the exact colour pantone has been registered.

I'd say that that was reasonable.  It isn't an absolute ban on others using orange (BA^» (British Airways - about) can still serve orange juice of their flights for example and a mobile phone operator can use the exact same colour in their brand), but if another airline started branding their planes in the same orange theme, then you could see that the public might genuinely see an association between Easyjet/Easygroup and those planes.  If there was no such connection the public would be being mislead and EasyGroup's brand would be being diluted.  It is that kind of thing that their registration would stop.

Where it gets interesting is where a colour has become so distinctive that it causes the public to make a connection even when the colour is used for different goods.

So if I won the next GW^▸ (Great Western) franchise and decided to paint all of the trains in white and orange, I would bet that a good proportion of the travelling public would think that the trains were being run by EasyGroup/EasyJet even if the word "Easy" did not appear anywhere.  EasyGroup have never run trains and have therefore not use their colour brand for trains.  Should EasyGroup be able to stop my actions? What if their was evidence that people were attracted to my trains by the Orange/White branding expecting to find low cost fares and ended up seeing the high price and complexity of my tickets and being put off not just my trains but the whole EasyGroup?

[PhilWakely]

I hereby claim the colour magnolia as my trademark. Use it if you like, but I want 5p per wall.

Is that all shades of Magnolia?  Mine is described as 'a subtle hint of magnolia'   

[chrisr_75]

EasyGroup have never run trains and have therefore not use their colour brand for trains. 

Off on a slight tangent (again - sorry mods!!  ), but I wonder if they would ever be tempted to branch out - they've done airlines, hotels, car hire thus far...potentially a strong brand link up in a similar fashion to Virgin...

[Tim]

EasyGroup have never run trains and have therefore not use their colour brand for trains. 

Off on a slight tangent (again - sorry mods!!  ), but I wonder if they would ever be tempted to branch out - they've done airlines, hotels, car hire thus far...potentially a strong brand link up in a similar fashion to Virgin...

They might.  And I'd welcome it.  It does seem however that the days of new dynamic franchisees has mostly passed.  You've almost got to be a foreign state owned railway or First or Stagecoach these days to win a franchise.  Even Virgin, is only a minor partner in their recent ECML^▸ (East Coast Main Line) franchise.   

[stuving]

You've almost got to be a foreign state owned railway or First or Stagecoach these days to win a franchise.  Even Virgin, is only a minor partner in their recent ECML^▸ (East Coast Main Line) franchise.   

Or, to put that another way, only a company committed to the rail sector would bid for a franchise, given the low profit (3% or less) combined with a significant political risk despite the rigidity of the agreements. (See any form of business journalism for the details.)

[Chris from Nailsea]

Off on a slight tangent (again - sorry mods!!  ) ...

I long ago reached the conclusion that members of this forum only do that to try and wind me up ...