The case began with a local entrepreneur using a green and yellow color scheme in his gas stations, which was combined with white, silver, and gray colors. Additionally, the illuminated elements of the stations were characterized by a green hue. This situation did not please BP, which filed a lawsuit against the entrepreneur, alleging, among other things, that the signage was misleading regarding both the origin of the goods and services offered and the entrepreneur’s branding, as well as exploiting the reputation of another company, which constituted an infringement of the plaintiff’s trademark rights and acts of unfair competition. In the lawsuit, BP demanded, among other things, that the defendant be prohibited from using the green and yellow color combination for the signage of the gas stations (the services provided, their advertising, and the sale of liquid fuels), and that the defendant cease illuminating any elements of the gas stations in green, in particular the canopy of the main building, the walls of the store, and the price display.
The case concluded favorably for the defendant, as the court of first instance dismissed the claim, and the Court of Appeal in Gdańsk, in its judgment of February 26, 2019, dismissed the plaintiff’s appeal (case file number V AGa 238/18).
During the court proceedings, the second-instance court noted that the BP trademarks, characterized by green and yellow colors, undoubtedly have a distinctive character, which was confirmed by the Supreme Court’s judgment of October 21, 2010 (case file number IV CSK 231/10) in a different, earlier case. However, this circumstance does not justify the plaintiff’s claims in the present case, as the appearance of the defendant’s gas stations is not similar enough to the BP stations to justify the claims in the lawsuit. In the court’s opinion, prohibiting other entrepreneurs, including those who operate gas stations, from using the combination of green and yellow colors would restrict the freedom to conduct business. The court noted that the protective rights of BP cover the combination of colors in which green accounts for 40% of the color in combination with yellow. An important fact is also that the subject of protection is the general combination of the disputed colors with the plaintiff’s trademarks and the image of the gas stations.
Furthermore, with regard to the claims made in the lawsuit, it should be noted that they also concern other colors, including white, silver, and gray, which were only used by BP after the rebranding and refresh of the brand’s image in 2015, and which are not covered by the disputed trademark. Therefore, BP’s claims were unfounded.
Taking into account the aforementioned circumstances, the courts of both instances that heard the case did not grant BP’s claims.
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