Remember last year when T-Mobile sued AT&T prepaid subsidiary Aio Wireless for allegedly infringing upon its magenta trademark? We haven't heard much about the case ever since it was filed back in August, but today T-Mobile announced that a ruling on the matter has been issued.
Judge Lee Rosenthal of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has ruled that there is a "substantial likelihood" that the plum color Pantone 676C used by Aio Wireless in its advertising could be confused with the Pantone Process Magenta color used in T-Mobile's advertising. Judge Rosenthal went on to say that T-Mobile has shown that it could suffer irreparable injury if an injunction is not issued, and as a result, Aio has been ordered to stop using "large blocks or swaths" of Pantone 676C or a similar shade in its advertising, stores and other promotional documents.
Unsurprisingly, T-Mobile is pretty pleased with the outcome of the case, saying that the ruling supports its argument that wireless consumers associate magenta with T-Mobile and that the carrier's use of that color is protected by law. While the major four U.S. carriers each have a color that they're generally identified with — Sprint is yellow, AT&T is blue, Verizon is red and T-Mobile is magenta — the outcome of this case is still interesting since the federal court agreed that the magenta color used by T-Mobile in its advertising is so strongly associated with T-Mo that it was necessary to block Aio from using a similar hue in its own marketing materials.
The full order of injunction from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas can be found right here.
Via T-Mobile, Justia: Order of injunction
