Marketing and the law: defending single color trademarks

Abstract

Most international jurisdictions have sought to broaden their definition of a trade mark following the Qualitex v Jacobson Products (Qualitex Case)2. In Australia, the Trade Marks Act (Cth) 1995 was introduced to recognise that colors, scents, shapes and sounds could be registered as a trade mark provided the mark was capable of distinguishing, in the course of trade, the proprietor’s goods or services from the goods or services of others. However, to date, it has proven extremely difficult to defend the registration of a single color trade mark in Australia