Sure. Why would a computer UI be an exception? Law applies to computer interfaces the same way as it does to other things.
Trademarking colors is difficult though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_trade_mark
this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2024
24 points (96.2% liked)
Ask Lemmy
26690 readers
2231 users here now
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Please don't post about US Politics.
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected].
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Tldr: you can do it, but you have to argue real well that the color is distictive and associated exclusively with your brand.
An example of a trademarked color is ups brown
Violating copyright every time I take a shit
Fun fact: you can use most trademarked colors for anything as long as it isnt in the same sector as the company that trademarked it.
E.g, if a purse company trademarked a certain shade of pink, you could still sell computers that color.
Would I then run afoul if I branched out and had computer accessories, like laptop bags?
then the purse company would have to convince a court that the color of your laptop bag incites confusion as to wether or not they made it.
Not a lawyer, but hypothetically yes? I think it's the same situation with Pantone colors being only legally viewable on Adobe software or whatever. (Will double check on the validity of that though)
So I can't ship my shit?
Just don't tell anyone, right? Mine is T-Mobile magenta.
To answer your unspoken question, yes, someone could have trademarked the yellow paint and stopped the madness right then and there.
Im guessing this has to do with Pantone yellow and Cyberpunk 2077?
I think UIs are more typically patented if they do something unique.
I'm pretty sure we know there are some trademarked UI elements though—I'd be surprised if the start button wasn't a Microsoft trademark at least when they launched windows 95
Some article I saw about suing Tesla for using a color scheme reminiscent of Blade Runner 2049.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/blade-runner-2049-producers-sue-elon-musk-tesla-warner-bros-discovery-1.7359260
That was about AI generated artworks actually.