The Colour Battle: Cadbury wins exclusive use of Pantone 2685C purple

Kraft-owned Cadbury maker of all those wonderful sweet treats we love but are not allowed to much of, have finally grabbed exclusive use of the Pantone 2685C purple they use in their packaging and marketing that has become quite iconic.

Cadbury is a British confectionery company owned by Kraft Foods and is the industry's second-largest globally after Mars, Incorporated. With its headquarters in Uxbridge, London, England, the company operates in  more than 50 countries worldwide.

The company was known as Cadbury Schweppes plc from 1969–2008 until its demerger, in which its global confectionery business was separated from its US beverage unit (now called "Dr Pepper Snapple Group"). It was also a constant constituent of the FTSE 100 from the index's 1984 inception until its 2010 Kraft Foods takeover.

 

Rival chocolate brand Nestlé has been in a court battle that's lastest well over four years over the use of this colour, Cadbury had won a trademark ruling last December over the right to use the colour exclusively for chocolate bar and drink packaging.

Nestlé’s legal appeal was overturned in the High Court, where it was ruled that the Pantone colour used for the brand has been distinctive of Cadbury for milk chocolate since 1914.

What are your opinions on this? Do you think it's bad for designers and brand creatives to not be able to use a colour or for a business to be able to trademark a certain Pantone?