A
federal district court judge has granted T-Mobile a preliminary injunction against AT&T
subsidiary Aio Wireless on basis that its color scheme
infringes on T-Mobile's magenta color trademark.
In the decision, Federal District Court
judge Lee Rosenthal held that "T-Mobile has shown a likelihood that
potential customers will be confused into thinking that Aio is affiliated or
associated with T-Mobile based on the confused association between Aio’s use of
its plum color and T-Mobile’s similar use of its similar magenta color."
The order prohibits Aio from using a plum color in
advertising, marketing, and in store design.
Aio
Wireless is a low-cost, no-contract carrier owned and operated by AT&T.
The
prepaid service launched in 2013 and T-Mobile filed a lawsuit against the
company's use of the plum color, which we reported on.
In the complaint, T-Mobile argued that Aio's plum color
scheme and similar wireless services confused customers into thinking that the
low-cost carrier was associated with T-Mobile.
T-Mobile proved that it had a strong
likelihood of success in the merits of its case.
Part
of T-Mobile's argument was that "AT&T set up Aio to compete directly with
T-Mobile," and the court agreed, finding that "the
record is clear that Aio wanted to capture T-Mobile customers."
Some
documents unearthed during early discovery in the case disclosed that AT&T knew Aio's color
scheme was similar to T-Mobile's.
According to the opinion, a company
hired by AT&T for focus group testing sent a report "highlighting that
because the plum color was so similar to T-Mobile magenta, focus-group members
were initially confused into thinking that the commercials were affiliated with
T-Mobile."
T-Mobile
has defended its trademark on its magenta color vigorously, and in a statement, the company says that this
latest ruling "validates T-Mobile's position that wireless customers
identify T-Mobile with magenta and that T-Mobile's use of magenta is protected
by trademark law."
