SKAGGS

Colour Lovers recently highlighted the almost unbelievable story that T-Mobile and its parent company Deutsche Telekom (DT) have trademarked Color No. 395 52 630, also known as Magenta. No..Not Magenta!? It’s one of my favorite colors! I’ve actually never heard of anything so ridiculous until Bradley pointed out that UPS has its brown and Tiffany has its blue.

I wonder if UK mobile phone network provider Orange has their orange? Have they trademarked/copyrighted the word Orange? Can they do this? If so what do we call those delicious citrusy vibrantly colored fruits!?(ok so I maybe over-reacting a little *ahem*).
Engadget has a great guide to answering questions like mine…it’s not as bad as it seems.

In order to “own” magenta and enforce its trademark against you, T-Mobile would basically have to prove that you’re advertising or selling a telecommunications service with a super similar shade of magenta that everyone recognizes as being T-Mobile’s in a way that makes people think T-Mobile is affiliated with you.

There a plethora of websites that address the Magenta Issue. Free Magenta a great website that pays homage to MAGENTA and mourns it’s loss, there’s also a campaign to Free Magenta and a flickr group where you can submit your magenta images. Viva Magenta!