Why Brand Colors May Not Translate Globally for International Trademark

Picture this: You’ve spent months or even years building your brand around a signature shade of purple. Your customers recognize that exact shade instantly. Then you discover that a competitor in another market has exclusive rights to that same color. Someone else can legally use that exact purple in key international markets.

Color trademarks represent one of the most complex areas of international brand protection. What seems straightforward in your home market can become a maze of conflicting laws, cultural interpretations, and technical requirements across different countries. This all goes to say that color is something that you should leave off your trademark registration or consider wisely if you’re using it for the right reasons.

The Universal Challenge of Color Protection

Color trademarks occupy a unique position in international intellectual property law. Most countries recognize that colors can function as trademarks, but the standards can vary dramatically. The fundamental challenge is balancing business interests against the public’s right to use colors freely.

The core requirement that is almost universal is distinctiveness. The color itself must have acquired a secondary meaning that consumers associate with one source (that being your products or services), at least within the industry. But proving this becomes exponentially complex across multiple markets with different consumer behaviors, cultural associations, and competitive landscapes.

Some jurisdictions set the bar relatively low, requiring only that consumers associate the color with your brand. Others demand extensive evidence spanning years of exclusive use, significant advertising expenditures, and consumer surveys. And the rest may reject color applications entirely in certain industries.

How Culture Affects Colors

Colors can mean different things in different cultures, and this cultural association can influence international trademark protection and the inherent strategic value of the color itself.

In some cultures, certain colors or pairings are strongly associated with luck or tradition, making them popular among consumers and businesses. This popularity works against trademark protection, as these colors are thus too common for exclusive rights.

One of the most prominent examples is the color red in China, which symbolizes prosperity or happiness. So if you try to trademark a logo in red for the Chinese market, you might be up against countless other red logos that are already there, practically nullifying your efforts.

But color perception itself can vary across cultures. Some societies actually have more nuanced and versatile vocabularies for colors, distinguishing between shades most languages consider identical. This can make it impossible to accurately describe a specific color between markets where one simply lacks the inherent distinction for it.

These factors also impact enforcement. Colors with cultural significance may face different consumer confusion standards, as audiences with strong cultural associations to a color might be less likely to associate the color with a particular commercial brand exclusively.

The Different Color Specifications

Unlike words or designs, colors exist as physical phenomena that can be measured, but the systems to do so aren’t universally standardized across trademark offices.

As such, different countries require different color systems. Some accept Pantone numbers, others need RGB values, while some will require a more specific description of the color, matching their unique verbiage for it. This creates practical problems in maintaining consistent protection across markets.

The challenge only gets bigger when you consider how colors appear in different contexts. A single color might appear slightly different when printed, displayed digitally, or reproduced on textiles, owing to the differences in how the color is made via the color spectrum. These variations create ambiguity about what’s protected and whether specific uses fall within the protection scope.

The Competitive Landscape Effect

Industries crowded with color-based branding face higher hurdles for new color trademarks, as authorities worry additional claims would limit competition. This creates a “first-come-first-served” system for color trademarking, where most of the “good” colors are already taken and in use. Any companies late to the market (in relative terms) will now have to face more difficulties getting their color registered, if they’re able to at all.

This “color depletion” affects industries unequally, whereas sectors where color directly refers to safety or quality will naturally have fewer color options to choose from if you decide to go the trademark route. Similarly, some industries have designated certain colors as “to-avoid” or “off-limits,” which might seem arbitrary from the outside looking in, especially when limited to a specific region. This can lead to major discrepancies as to what colors are actually available for use as not only a trademark but a logo in general.

This hodge-podge of rules and standards might lead many to simply adopt black-and-white as the standard and be done with it, which can be a solid choice if you want to simplify your registration and your budget.

How to Make an International Trademark Strategy for Color

One effective approach is to develop a color hierarchy identifying primary, secondary, and accent colors. This allows you to emphasize secondary colors in select regions while maintaining brand recognition. This flexibility should ideally be built into brand guidelines from the beginning.

Timing can also be crucial. Filing applications in key markets you plan to expand into prevents competitors from claiming similar colors in the interim. This can require a significant upfront investment, but it prevents much larger problems later.

To ensure everything goes smoothly, you also need to keep an eye on documentation, as proper forms will ensure that jurisdictions can streamline your case as much as possible.

Consider working with local experts who understand specific requirements and cultural contexts in each target market, which will directly lead to a more profound understanding of how color fits into a commercial strategy.

When you put all these requirements together, it’s safe to say that the best option is to use professional services that offer international trademark registration, protection, and legal assistance. A company that can offer a wide array of services across markets means it can understand and leverage its reach to give you more options and better results.