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About a Colour: Cadbury Purple
The Cadbury purple. A bold, fruity — albeit perhaps a touch brash — purple that is synonymous with the globally-recognised British confectionary brand. The Cadbury brothers are thought to have picked the colour as a tribute to Queen Victoria, and it has been used on their chocolate wrappers for more than 100 years. Purple reign.
But this particular purple has seen legal battles with more bumps than a Picnic bar, and it is still not out of the woods yet. In 2008, Cadbury was granted a trademark for the tint (Pantone 2865c to be precise) to be used on certain chocolate goods, such as the iconic Dairy Milk. It had taken four years to get to this point — Cadbury’s had applied for it back in 2004. But Nestlé challenged the ruling, arguing that the colour was not distinctive enough to receive a trademark.
Colour registrations are notoriously difficult to obtain. This is due to the fact that it’s extremely difficult to prove exactly how much the colour has become synonymous with the brand in the mind of the consumer. If anyone knows how to quantify this, please let me. Now.
But luck was on Cadbury’s side and the Swiss group’s challenge failed. Allan James, from the UK Intellectual Property Office, claimed the colour showed enough “distinctive character” for a trademark. He believed the colour purple had been central to marketing the brand, and…
