Sure it is legal to trademark a color, assuming that the color has been sufficiently well associated with a product that they are closely identified together. Trademarking doesn’t mean nobody else can use the color. It just means that nobody can use the color to sell a competing product in a way that would cause consumer confusion.
For one example, take Tiffany’s blue boxes. If you are bringing your wife something in that blue box with a white ribbon, she knows it’s from Tiffany’s as soon as she sees the first little corner of blue. If some other jewelry/housewares retailer were to start packing things in boxes that color of blue, Tiffany’s would quite properly be on their asses immediately. On the other hand, if somebody were to make a dress using Tiffany blue, they really couldn’t complain.
It appears that when color is used primarily as a means of brand recognition, it’s trademarkable. If it’s “functional in other situations,” which can easily be read as “while occuring it nature,” then there’s no claim to exercise the trademark. So in the SJ Sharks’ case, that color can be said to be off the table for any other hockey teams, possibly any other pro sports teams, out of a concern for confusing teams via a distinctive color.
What do you have against logos that are “TOTALLY IN YOUR FACE!”?
As for the trademark status of “Pacific Teal,” I’m not 100% sure about that; I’m only going on a distant memory of hearing that the Sharks were so proud of their color scheme that they had that hue trademarked or some such thing. And, of course, I’m way too lazy to look it up. But I do thank the above posters for bringing some interesting info to the discussion.
I like the Blue Jays’ new logo. It has some character, gives the team a bit of an edge. I have a lot of blue jays–Steller’s Jays, technically, but basically the same bird–who hang around my home. Mean little sons of bitches. The bird in the corner of the Jays’ new logo conveys that better than the old look.
I’m not as sold on the Patriots’ floating, disembodied head logo. It’s a little on the weird side. But they’ve had success with it, so (shrug) what do I know?
While the Brownies don’t have any emblem on the side of their helmet, they’ve had their share of trademarked logos. Try selling unlicensed orange and brown t-shirts that say “Dog Pound” on them in downtown Cleveland on a football Sunday and see how fast the NFL/Browns merchandising police come down on you.
That’s true - and I don’t know how I forgot about the Brownie, it comes up for debate every offseason on Browns message boards - but I tend not to think of something as an official, definitive team logo if it’s not located on the uniform anywhere. Recently they’ve had some team equipment and jackets that have featured the Brownie, but nothing ever on the uniform.
