Even the color that is splashed on a brand can spark a court battle and contested for ownership. Case in point is the fight that had ensued between Aio Wireless and T-Mobile regarding use of the color magenta in their promotional endeavors. The color was contested by T-Mobile as their proprietary right which had been infringed by Aio Wireless. The case was being contested at a federal court in Texas. The final judgement has been ruled in favour of T-Mobile finally.
Aio Wireless, a subsidiary of AT&T is a pre-paid cellular service provider that came into existence in August 2013. They had used the same color that was being used by T-Mobile on their promotional media and therefore named as defendant in the infringement lawsuit filed by T-Mobile. In a press statement however, T-Mobile did mention in a subtle manner that their actual target had been AT&T.
T-Mobile uses the term “Plum” for the color they use on most of their advertisements which they alleged was being used by Aio Wireless also in their promotional campaigns. The judge took only three days of hearing to arrive at the conclusion that T-Mobile had a correct claim as customers would be drawing a conclusion by looking at the same color being used by Aio Wireless while getting their services to the public at large.
The court ruled for Aio Wireless to stop usage of the magenta color in their marketing or promotional media. All forms of advertisements and media have been covered by the court in this ruling. For Aio Wireless or for that matter AT&T changing their advertisement material would mean loss of money. They have yet to issue any statement but it would not be a one sided fight for sure.
