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List:       kde-www
Subject:    Re: wwwtesting - blue
From:       Tink <tink () svn ! net>
Date:       2003-01-29 17:42:59
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At 16:23 +0100 29/01/03, Olaf Jan Schmidt wrote about Re: wwwtesting - blue:

|BTW, the colour of the new web site is not aiming to copy Microsoft, it is
|the very common color "Royal Blue". Royal Blue is the default window bar
|colour of the Chrystal theme. This is why we use it for the website.

FYI there is no such color named 'Royal Blue'.
The Royal Blue you are referring to is a name probably only used 
within KDE. In the world of graphic and design print there is no such 
name.

Colors are being referred to by their Pantone names or given in 
percentages CMYK (Cyan Yellow Magenta Black). Royal Blue is probably 
a compounded color.

|That Microsoft uses a similar colour in other coutries than the one where
|the new layout was created is coincidence, and I am against destroying
|the new layout because of unproven claims about Microsoft having
|registered a colour in Germany or the Netherlands which it doesn't even
|use here.
|
|If we avoid every colour that might also used by someone else, we would be
|left with an empty page, or with one using only some kind of dirty grey
|and different tones of pink.
|
|If we wish not to be sued, we should better use a colour that is so common
|that it cannot be registered as a trademark, like Royal Blue. Even
|Microsoft has not dared to claim that they own Royal Blue.

If you cared to read the links I provided you can see ifts perfectly 
legal for MS to do so in Germany. It will hold up it court as well.
If you are in the same type of business as the company who has a 
trademark on that type of color whether it is together with his logo 
or as corporate style he  can make a case.

There was a case where MS sued a business called Microsof who had a 
website almost identical in color and they wanted it to change. They 
sucessfully did so. Mind you this was in the US where color 
protection laws are tougher than in Germany.

|Apart from that, Microsoft would not want to start such a stupid court
|case against KDE, as they know well that this would give bad PR to them
|and good PR to us.

But why would you take the risk?
It will make you look stupid because you didn't check before you 
started to design, and anyone professional knows it's something you 
do check before you start.
KDE had enough problems with renaming software because of 
trademark/copyright infringement the last few years. I thought there 
was a lesson to be learned.

It cans easily be avoided by checking the compound of the MS color 
blue and making sure yours is a different compound.

|> If KDE does does not want to get into trouble it's wise to start
|> educating itself.
|
|If you wish to eductate us on this subject, do so properly. Otherwise stop
|spreading FUD.

I don't know where your hostility comes from but I'm not willing to 
put up that. All people do within KDE is complain that there's no-one 
who wants to be active and advise in projects. Than when someone 
stands up and tells you he or she has knowledge on this type of 
subject you snub him off.

|We are busy with really important stuff right now. I will therefore not
|reply to any other mails concerning this until someone comes up with the
|exact registration number of a proven colour trademark.

It's something that should be checked _before_ you start designing 
not afterwards. I'm not trying to tell you what to do but that is how 
it works.

If this wasn't posted on kde-ev I wouldn't have known about it. I 
volunteered to work on a KDE corporate style guide, that's why I 
replied. If your not interested in my professional opinion as a 
graphic designer just let me know and I will direct my time to my own 
projects.

--
Tink - France
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