UK OFFICIAL GUIDANCE ON COLOUR MARKS

The UK Trade Marks Registry has announced that it is going to apply the Libertel criteria for the graphic representation of colour trade marks to applications to register colour as applied to defined surface areas. This practice amendment comes even though the comments in Libertel were limited to applications to register colours in the abstract. As of yesterday, marks consisting of colour alone

♦ may not just be provided as colour samples on paper;
♦ may be presented as a written description of the colour together with the relevant code from an internationally recognised colour identification system;
♦ may be presented by other means that meet the Sieckmann criteria of being clear, precise, self-contained, easily accessible, intelligible, durable and objective.

Colours can be submitted by e-filing or by fax, although in the latter case a description in words will be necessary and it is safe to also refer to an internationally recognised colour code.

The IPKat welcomes this advisory notice but wonders why the Registry has confined its guidance only to colours as applied to a defined surface area. If an application to register a colour which lacks such a defined area is refused on the basis that it falls outside the scope of this notice, applicants should remember that Trade Marks Registry advisory notices are not the same as statute law: they are there to ensure consistent treatment of applications by different examiners and to let applicants know how to process their applications, not to define the absolute grounds upon which an application is refused.

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