T-Mobile loses magenta suit against Telia, we try not to laugh

Well, would you look at that -- our good friend Deutsche Telekom seems to have lost a lawsuit it filed against rival European wireless carrier Telia over its use of the color magenta in its logo. The Danish Eastern Regional High Court today ruled that Telia and DT don't compete directly in the Danish market and that Telia isn't using the same magenta shade, leading the court to overturn an injunction DT sought against Telia's use of the color. On top of that, the court further ruled that Deutsche Telekom has to fork over 1.5M kroner ($316,188) in court costs and attorneys' fees to Telia, which probably stings a little more than having to share a color. Of course, now that magenta is the People's Color, maybe DT should look into playing a little nicer, don't you think?

[Thanks, Andreas]

[Jeremy K. @ May 28th 2008 3:23PM]

Magenta - 1
DT - 0

[Blaine Oliver @ May 28th 2008 3:44PM]

I believe you made a mistake in your typing, its meant to be:
Deuche Telecom

[aka_gus @ May 28th 2008 4:00PM]

Sorry Blaine, but no.

[aka_gus @ May 28th 2008 4:01PM]

Oh wait. Did my sarcasmometer just fail on me?
Dämn.

[asbola @ May 28th 2008 4:34PM]

@ Blaine Oliver

I believe you made a mistake in your typing, its meant to be:
Deutsche Telekom

[DarkLight @ May 28th 2008 5:17PM]

I believe you made a mistake in your typing, its meant to be:
Douche Telecom

[Darkest Daze @ May 28th 2008 6:31PM]

Thank you DarkLight..I was going through the comments, knowing where it was supposed to be headed, and just trying my best to not face-palm through the whole thing.

[JJV @ May 28th 2008 3:24PM]

http://T.mobile.justgotowned,com

[JJV @ May 28th 2008 3:24PM]

sry put a commma by mistake:
http://T.mobile.justgotowned.com

[phanbouy @ May 28th 2008 6:33PM]

thanks, that period really enhanced the comedic value of your post

[David @ May 28th 2008 3:24PM]

Bitches better stay away from that teal, that teal's mine!

[kjb434 @ May 28th 2008 3:25PM]

Thank God there is some common sense in this world.

[Kizorblade @ May 28th 2008 3:26PM]

Ha.

[hockeycheck @ May 28th 2008 3:31PM]

i think in celebration, engadget should suit up in our favorite magenta theme again.. just to rub it in their faces

[Andune @ May 28th 2008 4:55PM]

I thought the magenta looked good on the site, maybe one magenta day per week?

[Lemmiwinks (SSBBFC: 0903-2436-0891) @ May 28th 2008 3:33PM]

Someone should tell Orange about AT&T's Cingular-ific color scheme...

[aardvark sandwich @ May 28th 2008 3:35PM]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2052/2452488838_fb246fda71_o.jpg

[Sam @ May 28th 2008 3:34PM]

Insert obligatory "Deutsche bags" joke here.

[dj496 @ May 28th 2008 3:41PM]

DT have turned out to be a good source of humor here.

[phanbouy @ May 28th 2008 6:07PM]

who'da thunk the DTs could be funny?

[dj496 @ May 28th 2008 6:11PM]

They're naturals, definitely. They don't even intend it.

[John @ May 28th 2008 3:42PM]

I actually agree with Deutsche Telekom on this one. They're both in the same business, and the Telia name alludes to the Telekom name. It would be safe for people to assume that Telia is an offshoot of Deutsche Telekom (much like T-Mobile). To say that Telia isn't trying to ride on DT's coattails is ridiculous. Somehow Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon all managed to use a color other than magenta to form their identities, so why can't Telia?

I know there's some previous bitterness over at engadget mobile, but really, it's all about protecting your brand. I think there's a big difference between telling a blog to stop using their colors and telling a competing business to stop using their colors.

[Jakob Henner @ May 28th 2008 3:47PM]

Oh no, T-Mobile doesn't operate in Scandinavia, and Telia doesn't operate in Germay. What's the problem?

Happy days for Telia; colors and iPhone rights!

[Alex @ May 28th 2008 4:46PM]

But they are not serving the same area, so how could this affect business? Plus, the court said it wasn't the same shade...which I really still do not understand why it should matter in the first place....I mean at least the logos are different...

[Phr34ker @ May 29th 2008 4:49AM]

Tela have used their magenta-logo for over 10 years now in every market they've operated in. But since they've been in different countries, it's never been a problem (not that it's a problem now either).
It's just now that both Telia and DT has expanded to Denmark, that DT apparently think it's a problem...

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ May 28th 2008 4:02PM]

In Dutch:

Ik denk Engadget magenta t-shirts met wintertalingsembleem op de voorzijde en de rug zou moeten maken. Dan kon u een verzameling voor telecums bureau hebben Deuchebag. Soort gelijkaardig flits menigte het verzamelen zich. Het zou als al hel grappig zijn. Doe het, doe het!!

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ May 28th 2008 4:04PM]

in English:

I think Engadget should make magenta t-shirts with teal logo's on the front and back. Then you could have a rally in front of Deuchebag telecums office. Kinda like a flash mob gathering. It would be funny as all hell. Do it, do it!!

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ May 28th 2008 4:05PM]

chinese:

我认为Engadget在前面和后面应该做洋红色T恤杉以小野鸭商标的。 然后您可能有一次集会在Deuchebag telecums办公室前面。 有点儿象一刹那暴民汇聚。 它是滑稽的作为所有地狱。 做它，做它!!

[Qugeist @ May 28th 2008 4:40PM]

ok, 我看你是寫了一堆東西丟到Google Translate裡翻的吧。。。 Orz... Doesn't matter. Ek verstaan nie wat jy daar s^e nie. Dis afrikaans, weet jy?

[phanbouy @ May 28th 2008 6:08PM]

in french:

vou le vou douche

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ May 28th 2008 4:06PM]

На русском языке


я думаю Engadget должно сделать magenta тенниски с teal логосом на фронте и задней части. После этого вы смогли иметь раллио перед офисом telecums Deuchebag. Вроде как внезапный сход mob. Оно было бы funny как весь ад. Сделайте его, сделайте его!!

thats it

[Gibson @ May 28th 2008 5:45PM]

IAWTP

[JMMGoalster @ May 28th 2008 4:17PM]

Next headline:

T-Mobile files lawsuit against all Bitmap masks!

[electron @ May 28th 2008 4:29PM]

you are trying not to laugh, hmmmm............... well I'm not ;)

[Jeff Snugglebutton @ May 28th 2008 4:36PM]

It's finally official lawyers are the scum of the earth

[Nilay Patel @ May 28th 2008 5:11PM]

Hey, I resemble that remark!

[AdvWar @ May 28th 2008 5:30PM]

@Nilay

Don't you mean resent?

[phanbouy @ May 28th 2008 6:09PM]

advar: google self deprecating humor

[Alex @ May 28th 2008 4:43PM]

Hiring a lawyer: $20,000
Fines for loosing: $316,188

Looking for something new to do with your bad decisions and company insecurities: Priceless

There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's.....money.

[Alex @ May 28th 2008 4:44PM]

Just insert the name of your favorite bank or something to make everyone happy here...

[phanbouy @ May 28th 2008 6:32PM]

i'm me and i approved my self-reply

[wasabi @ May 28th 2008 6:34PM]

lol... wwow serious?

[Grandalf @ May 28th 2008 6:42PM]

Why the hell would they sue Telia in Denmark when Swedish Telia is the original one.

Above questions should be asked in case someone comes up with a good answer why they should have suit Telia at all.

[Jakob Henner @ May 29th 2008 2:43AM]

Ehmm, they have two court cases, one in Copenhagen, one in Stockholm.

[Hraefn @ May 29th 2008 2:57AM]

Two suits, huh? Well, here's to hoping that Stockholm follows Copenhagen's lead and fines DT for wasting their time.

[Sean @ May 28th 2008 7:50PM]

hahahahahahaha. ha

[Timmy P. @ May 28th 2008 9:30PM]

These are the Reasons I keep coming to Engadget.

[Zoinks @ May 28th 2008 11:07PM]

At least the lawyers had a good day.

All of them!

[Mobius_1 @ May 29th 2008 12:16AM]

I thought the Age of Conan lawsuit was pretty ridiculous, but this totally blows that into the airwaves

I second the "Magenta Days", where weblogs have magenta background, we wear magenta, fire magenta fireworks, surf Engagde t-mobile and don't use T-mobile

[Quito @ May 29th 2008 2:48AM]

So whatever did happen after that nice letter was delivered to Engadget by the Deuchemasters?