Cadbury allowed to register iconic purple colour

Cadbury has been allowed to register a trademark for the colour purple used on its chocolate bar wrappers, following a High Court ruling last week.

Lawyers representing Cadbury, Charles Russell Speechlys, said Cadbury’s would now be able to register the colour (Pantone 2685C), stated recent reports.

The confectionery giant has been attempting to register the colour for several years, in particular to register it without reference to how it will be used and just the colour per se. In the past, it has locked heads with Nestlé and the UK intellectual property office (IPO) for invalidating two of Cadbury’s trademarks for the purple colour in 2019.

However, this week, Justice Meade reportedly said that “if Cadbury’s circumstances are not right, I do not see how any other applicant would do better,” with regards to registering the colour.

The decision means that brands are capable of registering a colour, as an abstract thing, as it can be a ‘sign’ as required by the UK Trade Marks Act.

“There is now clear guidance for the UK IPO that these marks are registerable in principle and can be registered if the applicant is able to meet the ‘acquired distinctiveness’ test,” Mary Bagnall, Charles Russell Speechlys partner, said.

“This decision does not open the floodgates for the registration of colour per se marks, which will remain difficult to obtain because of the need to provide compelling evidence of ‘acquired distinctiveness’ in the mind of the consumer, something that Cadbury was able to achieve having used Cadbury Purple as a brand for over a century,” she added.