wwwtesting - blue

[marko faas]

Op wo 29-01-2003, om 16:23 schreef Olaf Jan Schmidt:
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> [Mirko Boehm]
> > Sorry not true, in the Netherlands like in Germany some colors are
> > trademarked and can not be use by organizations or corporations.
> 
> Well, has Microsoft trademarked the color blue in Germany or in the 
> Netherlands?
> 
> Otherwise this is FUD:
> 
> http://www.microsoft.de (yellow)
> http://www.microsoft.nl (orange)


This probably does 

Well, in the Netherlands it is possible to register colours, but there are some rules:
- colours must be unique
- they only apply for the products that they are registered for
- in most cases, the colour must be very common for the type of product (that means that for example Philips could claim some shade of blue, because they have used that colour for years and years)

A search at http://oami.eu.int/ reveals that Microsoft did register some colours, but merely combination of several colors. Haven't looked at IBM (big Blue) yet...

NB: Microsoft's client number at the OAMI is 35 (Yep, they were early :-) and colours only apply to figurative, as it looks like.

Also interesting: Microsoft claimed the name Windows, but it is listed as "Acquired distinctiveness: no". I am no lawyer, but maybe Michael should head for Europe :-)

Oh, and watch out for the butterfly!
http://oami.eu.int/search/trademark/la/EN_TM_Detail.cfm?ID=001657022&CFID=2152571&CFTOKEN=73102075

-- 
Regards,
Marko Faas
(argus at dds.nl)