Stupid Copyrights

April 2, 2008 at 11:59 am · Filed under Design, Geek Culture & Tech

Deutsche Telekom, owners of the global T-Mobile brand,
sent Engadget a letter directed
from their German legal department requesting the prompt
discontinuation of the use of the color magenta on Engadget Mobile, as T-Mobile actually has the color magenta patented.
The amazing folks at Engadget gave them a piece of their mind though:

There are many patented colors in the world these days, and it’s just freaking amazing that we got to a point where corporations OWN hexadecimal codes.

I <3 Engadget.

Hattip: Tim!






  • http://www.iamleet.com m7md

    stupid copy rights ? O.o
    its their right to protect their creativity ! , and not let anyone else use .. we dont all have to open up !

  • http://pressureovercappuccino.wordpress.com Deee

    I read about that magenta thing, but I couldn’t find it anywhere on their website.. and it really got my nerves.. knowing that telecom company owns like 60% of my tops sucks!

  • Mark

    I read about a case where a yarn company was able to get a valid US trademark on a scent. Granted it is limited to yarn because it is a trademark, but still in the same vein.

  • Amer

    You know what this reminds me of? The trial that has been going on for 9 years now with Nissan Motors and Nissan Computers over http://www.nissan.com. Unlike this case (where the corporate giant wins every time), the car manufacturer actually STILL has not won this case, and it is still going through settlements and such.

    The funniest part is, the guy who owns Nissan Computers is only using his legal last name “Nissan” so it is extremely hard for the company to argue that they “got the brand first.” The middle-class computer dealer is not settling for ANY dollar amount whatsoever and really wants to keep his small, online family business.

    WOW. Talk about being proud and stubborn!