Overview
- Obi’s fight reached the Federal Court of Justice on Thursday, where the presiding judge said the odds of winning exclusive protection look low and the ruling will come later.
- At issue is RAL 2008, a bright red‑orange that Obi registered as an abstract color mark in 2010 before rivals moved to erase it from the register.
- The patent office deleted the mark and the Federal Patent Court agreed, finding the color lacked distinctiveness because too few people linked it to one source.
- Competing studies are pivotal, with an Obi-commissioned survey showing close to 50% recognition and a rival study near 30%, and the court signaled it will probe alleged flaws in the lower result.
- Judges are weighing that evidence against market reality, as six of the seven biggest DIY chains used orange or red when Obi filed, and experts say only years of strict, all-channel use—like Telekom’s magenta or Milka’s purple—usually earns color protection.