Ron Earp
Admin
With great interest I read the article by Sam Cork, Brand Manager of Gulf Oil International, about the blue and orange colors associated with Gulf Oil. The story is about seven paragraphs long, the latter four of which are devoted to explaining how Gulf Oil applied to the European trademark authority for registration of these colors and it was granted to Gulf Oil.
The article goes on in detail about how no Gulf Oil logo is needed in order to be protected by the trademark - the colors alone are enough, how Gulf has various versions of the logo with alternate colors, how Gulf Oil is very proactive in protecting this trademark, and that CAV applied to produce orange and blue cars with Gulf Oil certification. Mr. Cork also invites others, either for personal or commercial use, to apply for the use of these colors by contacting him at [email protected].
The by line on the article indicates that the club fortuitously met Mr. Sam Cork at the 2009 Festival of Speed. I reckon that meeting was not by chance and that not everyone viewed the meeting as fortuitous.
Anyone have more information about how this is affecting private parties with orange and blue cars? It makes no mention of US trademarks, did they not apply for them or did the US office have more sense than to grant a trademark based on two colors and two colors only?
UK orange and blue car owners, have you been contacted about paying a fee to paint your car orange and blue?
I wonder if the forum is going to have to drop the orange and blue color scheme?
If anything I would think that Gulf Oil would realize that the more blue and orange cars out there the greater the possible exposure they could obtain.
The article goes on in detail about how no Gulf Oil logo is needed in order to be protected by the trademark - the colors alone are enough, how Gulf has various versions of the logo with alternate colors, how Gulf Oil is very proactive in protecting this trademark, and that CAV applied to produce orange and blue cars with Gulf Oil certification. Mr. Cork also invites others, either for personal or commercial use, to apply for the use of these colors by contacting him at [email protected].
The by line on the article indicates that the club fortuitously met Mr. Sam Cork at the 2009 Festival of Speed. I reckon that meeting was not by chance and that not everyone viewed the meeting as fortuitous.
Anyone have more information about how this is affecting private parties with orange and blue cars? It makes no mention of US trademarks, did they not apply for them or did the US office have more sense than to grant a trademark based on two colors and two colors only?
UK orange and blue car owners, have you been contacted about paying a fee to paint your car orange and blue?
I wonder if the forum is going to have to drop the orange and blue color scheme?
If anything I would think that Gulf Oil would realize that the more blue and orange cars out there the greater the possible exposure they could obtain.