Color Trademarks, as they are referred to, are just one of the lesser-known forms of protection which may be used to protect one’s intellectual property under current trademark laws.

There is perhaps no better example of this in recent times then UPS’s attempts to register the color brown in connection with shipping services. In the early 2000s UPS determined that it wanted to lock up the color brown. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office initially denied their efforts.

Ultimately, it was held that a business can protect a conventional, familiar color as a trademark, but only if it can show substantial evidence of acquired distinctiveness in the color as a trademark. In other words, when consumers see a specific color do they think of your goods or services? That’s why for years UPS has run the ad campaign “What Can Brown do for you?” They are ingraining in the minds of the consumer that when they see the color brown they think about UPS’s shipping services.

So can you protect a color? Definitely. But in order to show the acquired distinctiveness or recognition required to garner a federal registration you have to show consumer recognition of your color with your product. In the end, that will cost you a lot of green.