This week, we discuss the idiocy of hyper-exacting trademarks, the idea of "consumer confusion" and why some companies need to lighten up.
Deutsche Telekom, owners of T-Mobile, sent a cease and desist letter to the editorial board of Gawker Media demanding that its blog, Engadget Mobile, no longer use the color magenta in its site design Monday.
T-Mobile, which uses a specific shade of magenta (RAL 4010, to be exact – RAL is a German color-space system used to match the exact hue and shade of certain paints) has cited the possibility of confusion among consumers as the reason for the C’D letter.
Dear reader, ask yourself – does a blog pose any real threat to the branding or image of a major international telecommunications company? Would you, as Joe or Jane Consumer, be misled by the use of magenta into thinking that Engadget Mobile would be a purveyor of cellular devices?
Certainly there is a possibility of getting a T-Mobile device through a contest on Engadget, but no real opportunity to purchase T-Mobile service from them.
For the observant reader who thought "Hey, that’s strangely close to April Fools’ Day," the letter was not signed by Loof Lirpa (read it backwards), nor was it sent by a rogue lawyer. No, this was a concerted effort by a company to protect their brand.
In the same vein, Apple sent a similar letter to New York City, demanding that it halt the use of its new GreeNYC logo – a green apple made out of an infinite loop, leaf pointing left. Apple’s logo, by comparison, is often white or black (though not exclusively) and has a bite missing from the upper right quadrant, with the leaf pointing right.
Admittedly, the outlines are similar (minus the bite from Apple’s logo), but that’s about where it ends.
Apple, also citing consumer confusion, has sued NYC.
Furthermore, Apple recently ended a suit against Apple Corps (the Beatles record label) over brand confusion (odd that Apple, the younger company, even has a leg to stand on there) and also recently sued Cisco, manufacturer of networking equipment, over the use of the term "iPhone." Cisco had released a voice-over-internet-protocol phone under that name before Apple had released its own iPhone.
Both DT and Apple should quit whining and move on. Their logos and brands aren’t being sullied, and in fact could be helped by the possibility of confusion. Apple ranks rather lowly on Greenpeace’s yearly report of eco-friendly tech companies and could use the image support. And DT’s wares are often reviewed quite nicely on Engadget’s Web site.
Honestly – can’t we all just get along?
