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So, today as I received an email from UPS, I read the disclaimer at the end and it said:

© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, and the color brown are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.

What exactly does it mean that the "color brown" is a trademark of someone? Does it refer specifically to the brown in the logo's arrangement? And if so, anyone that uses that same color is subject to trademark infringement?

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    Brown vans are just not normal, the only good reason to paint your van brown is to make it look like UPS, hence I expect that UPS would win a trademark case over it. – Ian Ringrose Jan 28 '16 at 9:12
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    Same with magenta and the German Telekom in the telecommunication industry. – DevSolar Jan 28 '16 at 13:49
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    You can use brown to sell housewares, but not shipping services. – phoog Jan 28 '16 at 14:28
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    For US users, @DevSolar is talking about T-Mobile. – Random832 Jan 28 '16 at 17:08
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    @NinoŠkopac That's my point. The company called "German Telekom" or "Deutsche Telekom" in other countries, is called T-Mobile in the US, and is not known to most Americans by the other names. – Random832 Jan 28 '16 at 17:36
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Inks for reproduction can be mixed to create very custom colors. It is entirely possible to trademark a special "recipe" of ink which results in the same color each time.

So yes. In terms of branding -- colors, or specific color combinations, can be trademarked.

Don't confuse "trademark" with "ownership" or "copyright". Trademark merely means in that particular industry the company has staked a claim on a specific color or color combination. Trademarks are more about preventing brand confusion within the same industry. You're free to use the same colors in a completely separate industry and even in some cases in a completely separate manner within the same industry.

Freakonomics has an article about trademarking colors. It mostly alludes to fashion, but it's still a valid article.

If you want to delve more into branding and color, Color Matters has some additional information.

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    Trademarked colors are not secret. Also, UPS isn't claiming trademark on a particular shade of brown, they're claiming it on the color brown, period. – phoog Jan 28 '16 at 14:23
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    phoog, from trademark registration 2,901,090 (expand the "Mark Information" section): "Description of Mark: The mark consists of the color chocolate brown, which is the approximate equivalent of Pantone Matching System 462C, as applied to the entire surface of vehicles and uniforms. The mark consists of the color brown alone. The broken lines indicate the position of the mark and do not form part of the mark." – myersjustinc Jan 28 '16 at 17:09
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    @phoog Regardless, if that were to actually happen, it would be a matter for trademark litigation. Their trademark explicitly does not claim "the color brown, period". – recognizer Jan 28 '16 at 21:00
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    Btw, I suspect the reason the description of the mark says "approximate equivalent of Pantone 462C", is that they don't necessarily get the paint they use actually certified by Pantone, or some issue along those lines, so they're not prepared to swear under penalty of perjury that it is always precisely Pantone 462C. When you describe the mark, you describe the mark as best you can. You don't have to describe "the mark or things that look a bit like it" because that's covered anyway by the relevant law. – Steve Jessop Jan 28 '16 at 22:22
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    @phoog * shrug * The point is, claiming this is a trademark on "the color brown", without any further qualification, is not actually an accurate statement. – recognizer Jan 28 '16 at 23:31
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The other answers have somewhat implicitly already answered this particular question, but I wanted to point out an important detail.

anyone that uses that same color is subject to trademark infringement?

No. Trademarks are only registered for a particular industry. For UPS, that would be logistics, parcel delivery, transportation, and some related ones. Also, trademarks are for, well, trade.

So, practically speaking, you only infringe when you are a competitor. (That's not quite true, but somewhat close.)

You can see for yourself, what exactly the claims of the trademarks are. The USPTO has a registry of all trademarks, the interesting ones are serial numbers 75039323, 75065911, and 76408109.

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Lack of confusion

The point of trademarks is to prevent customers confusing companies, and prevent companies from misleading (intentionally or not) customers that they are some other company (e.g. better known, better reputation, with more advertising) or related to them.

UPS trademarks essentially mean that if you are in their industry, then using similar branding is prohibited. Trademarking a particular color means that they consider using that or similar color a significant part of that branding - if you run a company doing package deliveries and have either similar logos, similar name, similar color scheme, etc, then UPS may sue you on trademark grounds, and the registered trademark on the color will mean that saying "oh, we don't think that using this color in this industry is associated with UPS" is not valid.

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Yes but it is that specific shade and only in the logistics industry.

Cadbury have trade marked purple.

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  • This is correct. If another delivery company used the same colour it could cause confusion, which would more than likely have been done on a purpose. – Terry Jan 28 '16 at 8:06
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    Which specific shade? They're claiming trademark on "the color brown," not on any particular variety of brown. – phoog Jan 28 '16 at 14:26
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    This answer seems contradictory. You've said "that specific shade", but UPS are claiming "the color brown", and your example is Cadbury trademarking "purple". Neither make any reference to a shade. – JBentley Jan 28 '16 at 16:45
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    To infringe the trade mark the brown used must be sufficiently close to UPS brown to cause confusion i.e. It is inherent in the nature of trade marks that is that particular shade. – Dale M♦ Jan 28 '16 at 19:24
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    @phoog no, they're claiming trademark on "the color chocolate brown", as is blindingly obvious to see. – hobbs Jan 28 '16 at 21:44

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