Cadbury has won a High Court battle for exclusive use of its signature Pantone 2685C purple, as used in Dairy Milk packaging.
Cadbury Dairy Milk, using Pantone 2685C purple
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.
I was concerned at the risk of using colours that may already be linked to other chocolate brands such as Hotel Chocolate and Cadbury’s. Hotel chocolate use the colours pink, black and cream. Cadbury’s use a distinctive purple. As expressed in this article. Both companies would use Pantone as they can afford the inking process so they will already be using very distinctive colours. With this project I need to be very aware of the competition and the already existing brands out there.