Deutsche Telekom / T-Mobile demands Engadget Mobile discontinue using the color magenta
By Ryan Block 
posted March 31st 2008 2:24PM
posted March 31st 2008 2:24PM
Granted, we get nastygrams from angry tech companies practically every day, but rarely regarding anything that's not some piece of news we published that they're livid about having out in the open. And irony of ironies, this whole use-of-magenta thing is precisely the topic we took up last year on behalf of DT.
We spoke with David Beigie, vice president of corporate communications for T-Mobile US, who offered: "As a trademark owner, from time to time Deutsche Telekom looks at usage that could lead to confusion in the marketplace. The letter sent by DT merely outlines these perspectives and is meant to simply open a dialogue. Engadget continues to pioneer forums for discussion of wireless industry developments and innovation. T-Mobile respects the role Engadget and its readers play in advancing dialog on these important topics."
So in the interest of that open dialog we've posted Deutsche Telekom's letter below, as well as a handy guide to allay any confusion should you suddenly find yourself disoriented and trying to buy your next SideKick or MDA from Engadget Mobile.
P.S. -Not an early April Fool's joke.
Update: We went magenta! More here.
| Deutsche Telekom | Engadget Mobile |
|
|---|---|---|
| Cellphone carrier | Yep | No |
| Distributor of telecom equipment | Yep | No |
| Likely to be mistaken for T-Mobile / Deutsch Telekom | We certainly hope so |
No |
| Former state-owned monopoly | Yep | No |
| Has something against US 3G | Apparently | No |
| Has more than five friends | Might not anymore |
Yep |
Talk about a waste of time. I had to read the article and look at the logo over and over to see if I missed something. T-Mobile is picking on the WRONG people and will get a PR black eye for this. I am a customer and I won't forget this stupid act.
After this post came up, the T-Mobile ads miraculously disappeared.
Seriously this company has got to be the worst example of corporate douchebaggery seen in a long time.
Unlocked German iPhones NOT on T-Mobile FTW!
The typo in the first word is an artifact of the letter's German roots. In German the greeting is considered the start of the first sentence, which is why the first word of the first line is never capitalized. Damned sloppy of their legal department though!
Look at the rules stating the protection of the Olympic logo "London 2012" here:
http://www.london2012.com/about/our-brand/using-the-brand.php
and look for how to link to their site (at the bottom of the page) you are re-directed here:
http://www.london-2012.co.uk/link/
A lot of work for the lawyers...
They really need a clue, or just to drain themselves of all "magenta" content :-)
Absolutely ridiculous. How about replying not within two weeks, but with two fingers?
Hold on here... who told T-Mobile that they have trademark protection on magenta. THEY DON'T. They have trademark protection on a specific shade of magenta - a shade which is clearly specified in their registration.
You don't need a colour analyzer for this one, the human eye can clearly see that the Engadget Mobile shade of magenta is a different shade of magenta to the one which T-Mobile use (and presumably the shade they use is the shade on which they have trademark protection).
On the one hand, I guess it wouldn't make much work to make the change and make them happy. On the other hand they don't have particularly solid grounds for the complaint. It's one thing to give companies the ability to trademark a colour, but things start to get scary when companies can go after people who use colours which are similar to the ones that they've trademarked.
LOL i love the T-Mobile banner ad along side this article!
As I have to cancel my t-mobile account anyway, I am going to point them to this article and explain that stupid things like this can lose you customers.
lmao these are the best comments ever lol :D.. you know i was thinking, im gonna trademark Red, Green, Blue, White and Black..
so anyone up for making some money? :D
Absolute jokers, what a pointless waste of time. They couldn't even be bothered to sort out the justification of the lettering in Word when they wrote it (it's indented to the left). How poor, just what one would expect from such a poor network. Don't change it, they haven't got a leg to stand on. My company logo is in black yet I've not received any letters from Microsoft about the use of the colour black in my lettering!!!!
They tried this in Germany many times. Here is just one of the cases they failed.
Sorry, only babelfish:
http://de.babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-home&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.heise.de%2Fnewsticker%2Fsuche%2Fergebnis%2F%3Frm%3Dresult%3Bq%3Dmagenta%3Burl%3D%2Fnewsticker%2Fmeldung%2F28179%2F%3Bwords%3DMagenta&lp=de_en&btnTrUrl=%C3%9Cbersetzen
In any event, T-mobile is in the business of the invisible spectrum, selling wireless service, it's not that surprising that they should try to grab parts of the visible spectrum.
That's all fine and dandy, but there is a much more sinister undertone to that letter. They are pointing out that engadget is a subsidiary of Time Warner what have you. In a not-so-subtle way they are indicating that not only should time warner go along with this in terms of a corporate courtesy, but instead of going after t-mobile, they should stake out another part of the spectrum for themselves.
This is just galling. I can picture the president of T-mobile wearing panties and high heels in his berlin penthouse stroking his ego with a big pink something or other.
What a bunch of idiots T-Mobile are!
Just tell them that you're using the related colour "Magnetta" - so called because of the magnetic fields raw magnetta can produce if not properly treated.
I think they're just testing the waters, and I'm sure that if the comparison chart is included in the official reply they will see things your way. Or, they'll sue you into the ground...
And, ummm, not to be a jerk or grammar Nazi or anything but: The "typo" in their letter is based on the typical German letter-writing style where the first word after the salutation is not capitalised, especially following a comma. Imagine that the two parts were joined on a single line; the capitalisation would then look silly. "Dear Ms. Maffett, We write you..." See?
A little bit of foreign language trivia for you all. Sorry, I'll crawl back into my hole and be silent now.
THAT KIND OF ...
The joke (originally from Romanian) goes like this (please forgive the poor English)
A wealthy woman from the country side goes to a well known dress maker in the nearby city to get a nice outfit for a forthcoming wedding party.
The women is invited to sit down and the choice of the color begins …
‘Would you like something dark?’
‘No, no …, it’s a wedding not a funeral!’
‘It is summer, maybe something light?’
‘Well, although I like to stand out, I think that I might be mistaken for the bride, maybe something different’
‘What about a special color like magenta?’
‘Listen Sir, I’m not THAT KIND OF WOMAN!’
‘Sorry ma’am. Could I suggest something with more than one color, for example this nice example with flowers?’
‘Well, this is a good idea, but please be sure to include a little bit of magenta.’
Well left apart that the joke is not quite politically correct, and the color was violet originally, most probably Deutche Telekom is ‘THAT KIND OF’ company.
what an idiots! Makes me rethink my T-Mobile subscription.
You fuckin retards! You're just jealous cos German companies own the world!
I'm proud of the Telekom! Keep on fightin for your right, folks!
"Wir Deutsche fürchten Gott! Sonst niemand auf der Welt." -- Otto von Bismark 1888
Mr. Peanut: Lest you forget that Americans and The World SAVED YOUR NAZI-WORSHIPPING BUTTS from total anhilation and embarrasment after World War 2; I'm here to remind you. Now we can all be free to ignore the latest attempt of a German entity TRYING to take over the world, or the rainbow, as it may be. Learn your place, Hitler-lover. You could stand to sit through a few spelling classes, too.
Everyone should turn their logos magenta on the same day later this month. Say Monday the 7th should be Magenta Day.
Yeah, trying to be moral and taking the highground when you're owned by AOL/Time Warner.
both losers. sue each other towards bankruptcy, why dontcha?
In the print world you can actually use up to 400% ink on regular 4 color process, not that anyone would as most presses can't handle it well, but having 101% isn't a problem.
my unborn child knows the diff between engadget mobile and t-mobile. and didnt crayola invent the color magenta? cause i seem to remember using that color crayon in 1983 an shit.
Actually, I get aroused by magenta -- reminds me of my girlfriend's bra. Everytime I pass a T-Mobile store... {boing}
Get off the internet ya noobs!
LOL
HAHAHAHA
What a bunch of idiots.
I guess this as logical as when I paid $300 for a phone that arrived dead and when I asked for a replacement they told me they would give me a refurbished phone of equal or similar value but not the same model. I dropped thier butts in a matter of minutes but while I argued with thier management about why I would not be paying them for activation etc they ended up chargeing me for 2 weeks of use on the phones because "one of the 2 phones was able to place calls" Well guess what? When I plan on dropping you I don't distribute that number or make calls on those phones and if I don't use any minutes then I should not be billed for any.
T-Mobile... I hope this news gets out to everyone and they can see you for the greedy little tards you are.
Not unless their paint team physically developed a specific mix of colors could they claim stake, i.e. paint or dye. Magenta, specifically is a flat / base coded color and can be accessed and used by every person using a computer. Copyright only protects physical color development.
Magenta is FF00FF. The colors used in each logo differ - T-Mobile #C41584, engaget #EC008C, (with slight RGB variations in both).
Do those corporate legal guys talk to the pr/communication and marketing guys sometimes? apparently not. otherwise the pr/communication and marketing guys would probably told those dumbass lawmasters, that t-mobile already sucks like hell among the iphone carriers and now they even got over this already cracked image. well done. b.t.w. the only reason i didn't buy an iphone so far is, that its locked to t-mobile. no thank you. hopefully apple rethinks this in the future.
LOL i love how this has circulated all over the internet!
T-Mobile should really stop hunting down people who are using MAGENTA and really should look for improving their cell service and trying to get 3G over here for their customers!
Cost of person looking up web sites: $200
Cost of attorneys writing this letter: $ 2,500
Cost of going to court over this: $30,000
Reading this letter: Priceless
I wonder is crayola is now going to stop making magenta as a crayon now?
thats t-mobile in germany - they'd better should take care about their customers instead of going into a magenta fight with website owners - how stupid. Some years ago they sued many companies in germany about using magenta colors.
This is the very reason, why DT in Germany is generally called "The Telecomedians" ("Telekomiker" in German).
What is with Tech companies PR Departments this week? Have they all decided to lemming themselves off the nearest parapet or something?
(Depending on how I read the articles) First it was EA and their "lets-charge-people-for-new-content-that's-already-on-the-disk-they-just-bought" debacle over Battlefield Bad Company, then it was Creative and the "We're-not-going-to-fix-our-shoddy-driver-support-for-Vista-and-we-won't-let-anyone-else-do-so-either" debate that sparked a revolt amongst their customers. Now it's the turn of T-Mobile over the colour magenta - it's a colour for crying out loud!?!
There must be something in the water...
Yep, German Telekom is famous for their Magenta Copyright Claims for YEARS. Many People complained, many field lawsuits never got anywhere as far as i know.
Personally for me as GERMAN iam almost daily confronted with the Magenta Telekom Branding and honestly the first thing i associate with when i see the Endgaget Magenta "Mobile" logo is T-Mobile.
Its amazing, what a world we live in where large a corp. thinks its ok to tell another company what to do with something so petty as a logo. Besides if anyone has ever used sh*T-Mobile they know how bad the service is, i doubt your website sounds like your in a wind T-unnel when you use it
I am claiming the color blue. Everyone take note.
Silly Telecom, didn't they learn anything from Walmart?
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/28/walmart-loses-tradem.html
This just makes T-Mobile look stupid. A trademark should refer to a specific shape or custom font. How dare they try to own a color. Are they going to sue a rainbow?
What can I say ... we here in Germany hate the Telekom (unless they pay for soccer and wireless) but they are big magenta colored assholes that can't get their mouths full. By the way since when does a company have the right for the exclusive use of specific wavelengths of light? Did I miss the "magenta" particle auction? What the f*)%?
LOL, you can't trademark a fuggin color..
Brillinat marketing ploy T-Mobile, brilliant. Piss off one of the premier mobile information providers. I can't believe no one else thought of this before...
Well played engadget... Check the new banner and background color of www.EngagdetMobile.com
Well played engadget... Check the new banner and background color of www.EngagdetMobile.com
Thats what i get for clicking twice.
awww brutal they made it pink and put tmobile in pink hilarioussssssss lol
They also should demand all printers makers companies to stop using mangenta too.. hehehe
Well at least (and I'm not defending them by any means) it was a very nicely worded letter, not one of those "cease-and-desist or we'll sue you out of existance" letters. It could be followed up with a kindly worded reply... and some flowers.
Jaja, als wenn die Telekom nichts besseres zu tun hätte. Aber als Monopolist in Deutschland können die sich ja alles erlauben. Einfach nur noch lächerlich!
Lieber hätte ich da vernünftigen Service, als dass ich mir um die Farbe Gedanken machen würde :-D