BP loses green trademark battle
Oil company BP has failed in its latest attempt to register the colour green as a trademark in Australia.
The multinational failed to prove that consumers would associate the colour with its services.
BP has been locked in a battle with Australian fresh food company Woolworths, which uses a green apple in its logo, since it first attempted to trademark the colour in the early 1990’s.
Woolworths claimed the colour, known as Pantone shade 348C, did not distinguish BP's goods or services from others, and expressed concern over anyone “owning” a colour.
In a statement, the country’s IP office, IP Australia, said BP had failed to show “convincing evidence” that the colour was “indelibly linked in the average petrol consumer’s mind” to its services.
In October last year IP Australia also rejected another BP application for the use of green on strip lights at its petrol stations.
The latest decision goes against previous rulings in which BP has successfully secured trademark registration, including in the UK and France as well as New Zealand.
Russell Waters, partner at Phillips Ormonde Fitzpatrick in Melbourne, said although there had been many successful colour registrations in Australia previously, it had still proved difficult for businesses.
“Combinations of colours are generally easier to register than single colours,” Waters said.
“The difficulty in registering colours is that they are generally considered to have no inherent capability of distinguishing one trader’s goods from another, and evidence needs to be filed demonstrating that the mark was in fact distinctive at the filing date of the application as a result of use of the mark in Australia,” he added.
It is not the first time brands have been involved in attempts to trademark colours.
US jeweller Tiffany has a trademark on its traditional light blue, while in Australia pet food brand Whiskas has won the right to the colour purple.
In the UK, one of the most notable cases centred on chocolate maker Cadbury and its attempt to assert its dominance over the colour purple.
Cadbury won a High Court case in 2012, which would have stopped other chocolate firms from using the colour.
However, in October 2013, following opposition from rival Nestlé, the Court of Appeal rejected those decisions and said it should not be allowed to trademark the colour.
BP has until July 17 to appeal against the latest ruling.
A spokesperson for the company did not say whether it was planning to appeal, but said green had been “central to the BP brand since the 1930s” and that it believed it should be protected.
