I hope you don’t like the color magenta too much, or T-Mobile just might sue you.
That’s right, everybody. T-Mobile recently sued an AT&T subsidiary, Aio Wireless, for using a color that kind of looked like T-Mobile’s iconic “magenta” color. The color in question, Pantone 676C (otherwise known as “plum”) had been used by Aio in its logo as well as other promotional items. Of course, its use of this color posed an incredible threat to the phone-company giant, which felt the need to sue Aio.
The dumbest part? T-Mobile actually won.
The Texas court that heard the case has officially demanded that Aio cease using its plum-like color in any and all promotional items.
“According to the presiding judge, T-Mobile successfully argued that letting Aio continue to use a variant of magenta would cause it irreparable harm,” reported The Washington Post.
It should be noted that this is not the first time someone has copyrighted something ridiculous. The NFL owns the words “Super Bowl,” which is why any advertisers trying to appeal to consumers who will be watching the game instead use the words “the big game.”
The song “Happy Birthday to You” is also under copyright by a division of the Warner Music Group on behalf of Patty and Mildred J. Hill, who wrote the song in 1893. This explains why restaurant servers often sing their own strange variations of the traditional birthday song; they’d have to pay quite a hefty fine just for singing “Happy Birthday” to a customer.
Similarly, Starbucks officially owns the word “Frappuccino.” These companies don’t take these copyrights lightly; Slate reported just last year that a man who had named one of his drinks “Frappicino” received a cease and desist letter from the coffee shop chain.
Starbucks told the pub in Cottleville, Missouri that “Frappicino” and “Frappuccino” were too similar, and that they were concerned that the pub’s patrons might get confused and think they were in a Starbucks.
I mean, Starbucks seriously thinks that people are dumb enough to think that any place with the word “Frappuccino” on its menu is a Starbucks. That’s like me walking into a five-star restaurant, seeing curly fries on the menu, and suddenly thinking, “Did I accidentally walk into a really fancy Jack in the Box? Am I dreaming?”
When it comes down to the Aio and T-Mobile mess, however, Aio had a pretty good response.
“T-Mobile needs an art lesson. Aio doesn’t do magenta,” a representative told The Consumerist.
Since the ruling, however, Aio has confirmed that it will no longer continue to use the controversial color in its marketing campaign.
“While we disagree with the court’s decision, it addresses advertising and store designs that we are no longer implementing. Accordingly, this decision has no effect on our advertising plans,” Aio spokeswoman Alejandra Arango told The Washington Post.
You’ve won this round, T-Mobile. You’ve won this round.
Opinion columnist Carolina Treviño is an advertising freshman and may be reached at [email protected]
I actually remember when T-Mobile trademarked the color… I thought that was odd back then, now I understand why…
I hate Starbucks. Crappy coffee. I prefer to avoid the zombies that go to mega chain restaurants and places like starbucks. Starbucks is the Walmart of the coffee world.
I was almost moved to comment about how this lawsuit was justified, but the fact that this writer doesn’t know or care about the difference between trademark and copyright makes it clear that there would be no point in doing so.