Want to own a color? If the color is strongly enough associated with your product, you might be able to
For example, a certain shade of the color
pink is owned by Owens Corning for
use as the color of home fiberglass
insulation, known in the trade as the
“pink stuff.” If you plan to go into
the home insulation business, you
may not sell insulation colored pink,
because customers would likely be
confused into believing that your
pink product was the trademarked
“pink stuff ” sold by Owens Corning.
Likewise, a certain shade of the color
brown is owned by United Parcel Service
for the color of the trucks that deliver parcel packages and the uniforms of the people who drive them. Competitors in the package delivery business may not color their trucks or uniforms that color brown. When a delivery truck pulls up and customers see its brown color, they know immediately that the UPS truck has arrived. If a UPS competitor pulled up in a truck that color, the customers would incorrectly assume that they were seeing a UPS truck and entrusting their packages to UPS for delivery.
Interestingly, some sounds can be
owned as trademarks if they are distinctive enough to categorically identify the source of goods or services. The so-called NBC chimes (the notes G-E-C played in succession), for example, and the THX theatrical sound system promo’s “deep note” sound have been registered in the U.S. as trademarks.
