This was published 7 years ago
V energy drink and Coca-Cola in legal battle over the colour green
By Patrick Hatch
The maker of V energy drinks and the Coca-Cola Company are locked in a fierce legal battle over who can own the colour green.
Frucor Beverages' attempt to register the shade Pantone 376C is now heading to the Federal Court after Coca-Cola successfully blocked its application to trademark the colour used on the packaging of its V drinks.
Coca-Cola blocked Frucor's attempt to trademark the colour used on its products. Credit: Joe Armao
Frucor's application to IP Australia, first made in 2012, would have stopped other companies using the colour on other energy drinks.
Coca-Cola objected on the grounds that Pantone 376C did not distinguish V because other soft drinks already used similar colours, including its own "Green Storm" variety of Mother energy drink.
Cadbury and Darrell Lea were involved in a long-running dispute over the use of purple.
The soft drink giant highlighted that at least 30 per cent of V's drinks were varieties that did not have green as the dominant colour, while arguing Frucor's initial bid was "fatally flawed" because it mistakenly attached the wrong shade of green to the trademark application.
Frucor tried to sway the Australian Trade Marks Office with a survey that asked respondents what soft drink they associated with the colour. It found 48 per cent of respondents said V, followed by 10 per cent naming Sprite and 9 per cent naming Gatorade.
But Michael Kirov, Delegate of the Registrar of Trade Marks, agreed with Coca-Cola that consumers would not perceive Pantone 376C as being unique to V and rejected Frucor's application.
"I think the colour green would simply be perceived as part, albeit an important part, of the applicant's corporate get-up," he ruled last month.
Coca-Cola's "Green Storm" variety of Mother energy drink.
Frucor has now dragged Coca-Cola to the Federal Court in an attempt to have the decision overturned, filing an appeal on July 11.
The matter will go to a case management hearing on August 8.
Coca-Cola and Frucor both said they would not comment on the dispute while it was in front of the court.
It's not the first time corporations have gone to war over a colour.
British Petroleum lost a 12-year battle to trademark the green Pantone 348C used in its logo after facing opposition from Woolworths, which claimed it was too similar to the green in the supermarket's apple logo.
Cadbury and rival chocolate maker Darrell Lea were involved in a long-running dispute over the use of purple, which ended with Cadbury claiming trademark over the distinctive shade used on its packaging.