August 29, 2006
Sun: College colors now afforded trademark protection
“Ruling tells companies hands off orange and blue,” by Kim Fulscher, Gainesville Sun, August 29, 2006.
In a landmark decision, the United States District Court Eastern District for Louisiana ruled last month that universities can protect their school color schemes as trademarks against unlicensed use by companies.
… the new ruling outlines that the simple use of a college’s colors on items, even when the name of the institution is not displayed, violates a trademark, said said Bruce Siegal, senior vice president for Collegiate Licensing Company.
I don’t see how any suits would be successful, even if this does go into law, because how hard is it to find prior use of a combination of two or three colours? Any half-assed lawyer can argue shades of colour are the same, and in that case there are really only 8 Crayola colours to combine.
Can I claim tan and red as my personal “trademarked” colors?