19 January 2010

[design] Can They Copyright A Yellow Line?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is actually a registration for a service mark (the things that sometimes have (SM) nearby), which is like a trademark for services instead of goods, and is not a copyright for a yellow line. The service mark registration means that SportVision wants people to associate superimposed yellow lines on football fields with the service that SportVision provides. People are free to paint their football fields in yellow lines, or to use yellow lines for other purposes (highway authorities don't have to start paying license fees to SportVision).

Colors can be trademarked for specific goods (e.g., Owens-Corning has registered ["(R)"] pink as a trademark for its on pink for Fiberglas (R) insulation; I think Tiffany has a trademark on robin's-egg blue for its jewelry boxes, and so on. it's still a fascinating registration because it suggests that SportVision wants football fans to associate yellow lines with SportVision specifically.