T-Mobile goes after Lemonade for color trademark violation

Did you hear? T-Mobile is suing property and casualty insurance company Lemonade over its use of the color magenta.

If that sounds ridiculous, well, it kind of is on the surface, but as any marketer knows, color is a key component of a brand’s visual identity. Color trademarks play an important role in preserving the integrity of a brand against competitors, ensuring that it’s the only one in its industry using that color or combination of colors.

In this case, T-Mobile has trademarked the color Pantone Rhodamine Red U, otherwise known as magenta. In the past, they have gone after other companies over the same thing, including dataJAR (a British firm that provides Apple device management for business and education) and Oxy (a British smartwatch maker). In 2008, T-Mobile sued Telia, a Swedish telephone company and mobile network operator, and lost because 1) the two companies don’t compete in the same markets in Denmark and 2) Telia’s magenta is a different shade.

Telia vs. T-Mobile — The court threw out the case stating that not only were they two different shades, but since Telia and T-Mobile weren’t in the same markets in Denmark, there wasn’t a “rival” issue.

In 2014, T-Mobile won its case against AT&T subsidiary Aio Wireless, preventing AT&T from using Pantone 676c – a plum color, because they do compete in the same market and customers could get the two wireless providers confused.

A court ruled that AT&T subsidiary Aio’s plum was too similar to T-Mobile’s iconic magenta and therefore could not use it.

The current lawsuit, though, is against an insurance provider – certainly not a competing industry – but T-Mobile insists that they have many business interests. So, one has to wonder if we’ll soon be able to bundle a T-Mobile car insurance plan with our mobile calling plan. Free data, free flat repair, anyone?