Cadbury has won a High Court battle for exclusive use of its signature Pantone 2685C purple, as used in Dairy Milk packaging.

The brand, which has used the purple for more than 90 years, has been locked in a legal battle with rival chocolate brand Nestlé for the last four years over the use of the colour.

Kraft-owned branded Cadbury had won a trademark ruling last December over the right to use the colour exclusively for chocolate bar and drink packaging. This was challenged by Nestlé, which claimed the colours could not be used as trademarks.

Nestlé’s appeal was overturned yesterday in the High Court, where it was ruled that the colour has been distinctive of Cadbury for milk chocolate since 1914.

A Cadbury spokesman says, ‘We welcome the decision of the High Court which allows us to register as a Trade Mark and protect our famous Colour Purple across a range of milk chocolate products.

‘Our Colour Purple has been linked with Cadbury for more than a century and the British public have grown up understanding its link with our chocolate.’

The trademark applies to milk chocolate bars and drinks only.

Should Cadbury be able to trademark the colour purple?

The chocolate giant has won a high-court showdown with Nestlé for the rights to Pantone 2685C. Do you think it's the right decision?

Who owns the colour purple? Yesterday Cadbury's Dairy Milk won a high-court ruling that they possessed the rights to a shade of it. After four years of battling Nestlé and its rival Wonka products, Cadbury has been allowed to trademark Pantone 2685C – the creamy purple you associate with Dairy Milk and your glass and a half full. The court ruled that the colour has been distinctively Cadbury's since 1914, rejecting Nestlé's claim that you can't trademark a colour. Cadbury is now referring to it as "our famous colour purple".

But did the lawyers get it right? Last month, shoe designer Christian Louboutin won a similar battle against Yves Saint Laurent, earning trademark protection for his red-soled heels. Other brands have longstanding colour associations: think Tiffany blue and Coca-Cola red. Should you be able to trademark a colour?

To clarify, companies like T-mobile can only trademark in the industry sector that they are registered in. So T-Mobile has trademarked the color magenta in telecommunications. The blog COLOURLovers says that this means, "you just can’t use the color magenta around anything to do with phones, digital media… oh and just about anything on the internet".

T-Mobile owns the rights to magenta

In addition to a trademarked color, some companies are also trademarking the actual name of the color.

The insulation company Owens–Corning, known for their The Pink Panther commercials, have registered the term "PINK" (in capital letters only) in reference to its insulation.

UPS is one of the best-known companies of the world, shipping us our goods ordered from across the world to our doorstep. They trademarked the slogan "What can Brown do for you?"

The Europe-based mobile network operator and internet service provider, Orange, uses the color Orange both in its logo and as the trademarked company name.

Wow!

I assumed the OP was the tip of a prevailing iceberg.

Wtf did that happen?