Food giant Nestlé has lost its court battle with Cadbury over the colour purple.
The UK High Court did not uphold Nestle’s appeal that has gone on for four years.
In 2008, Cadbury, which is now owned by Kraft Foods, won the right to exclusively use the particular purple colour Pantone 2685C, the colour used Dairy Milk packaging.
Nestlé challengeed a ruling from December 2011 that covered chocolate bars and drinks., arguing that colours could not be protected as a trademark.
Judge Colin Birss did not agree, ruling yesterday that colours are "capable of being signs."
He determined that the "Cadbury purple" had become synonymous with the company's chocolate for more than 90 years.
"The evidence clearly supports a finding that purple is distinctive of Cadbury for milk chocolate,” he said.
The original ruling from the Intellectual Property Office found sufficient evidence Cadbury had used the colour since first making Dairy Milk in 1914.
But since the trademark did not cover chocolate cakes or assortments, Nestlé's boxes of Quality Street contain the brazil nut chocolate wrapped in the purple colour, which has been a bone of contention between the two confectionary makers.
What do you think of the ruling? Do you agree that colours should be trademarked?