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Marks & Clerk is one of the UK’s foremost firms of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys. Our attorneys and solicitors are wired directly into the UK’s leading business and innovation economies. Alongside this we have offices in 9 international locations covering the EU, Canada and Asia, meaning we offer clients the best possible service locally, nationally and internationally.
Kärcher successfully enforced its German “zinc yellow” color trademark at the Hamburg Higher Regional Court. The court ruled that slight color differences and alternative branding did not negate confusion, reinforcing the strength of color trademarks in branding.
United Kingdom
Intellectual Property
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Kärcher, the well-known designer and
manufacturer of home, garden and professional cleaning devices, has successfully enforced it’s German colour trade mark (‘zinc
yellow’ / RAL 1018) at the Higher Regional Court of
Hamburg.
In addition to an extensive patent portfolio, Kärcher has a
number of trade marks registered around the world.
Kärcher’s ‘zinc yellow’ colour trade mark was
registered in 2005 for ‘motor-driven cleaning devices that
work with a high-pressure water jet; the aforementioned devices for
use outside the home’ in class 7.
During the court proceedings, survey evidence was submitted to
show that the public perceived the yellow colour as a trade mark,
and linked it to Kärcher.
The Court found that even though Kärcher’s products
included other colours, such as black and grey, yellow was the
predominant colour, and even the addition of completely different
brand names on the defendant’s goods did not detract from the
overall likelihood of confusion.
Additionally, the use by the defendant of a slightly different
shade of yellow was no defence, since the colours were highly
similar and any slight differences would not be noticed by
consumers.
Kärcher’s products:
Defendant’s products:
Picture source: https://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2024/11/karcher-successfully-enforces-its.html
Kärcher’s consistent use of brand guidelines, which cover everything from
fonts and colours to brochures and packaging, has no doubt helped
solidify public recognition of it’s trade mark yellow. This
recent enforcement success illustrates the potential power and
breadth of protection of colour mark registrations, even where the
infringing products use different shades of the protected colour
and include completely different word marks.
Link to court judgment: https://www.landesrecht-hamburg.de/bsha/document/NJRE001587280
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