Getting Red About the Color of Purple

ROYAL PURPLE, LLC of Indianapolis, Indiana filed a lawsuit on March 22, 2013 against Liqui Moly GmbH of Ulm, Germany in the Southern District of Indiana. The suit claims trademark infringement and acts that constitute unfair competition, and dilution by Liqui Moly for selling purple automotive lubricants.

The lawsuit centers on the right to sell purple lubricants.

Royal Purple claims it has sold purple lubricants for more than 20 years and has trademarked the color purple as applied to lubricants. In fact, it owns several federal trademark registrations for the color purple as applied to lubricating oils for consumer automotive, industrial and other lubricant uses.

This will be an interesting case to watch. Should Royal Purple prevail, one has to wonder if others will stake claims/trademarks for green, blue and other appealing colors for motor oils and lubricants.