Hacker News Reader

Comment by mc32 | Hacker News Reader

This is exemplified by powertool brands which have distinct color schemes for their Tools: Milwaukee (Red & Black), DeWalt (Yellow & Black), Fein (Orange), Makita (Teal), Ryobi (Chartreuse), etc. Some competitors have similar but not identical color schemes, for example Milwaukee vs Craftsman, Fein vs Ridgid. Though I don't think any "own" the colors in the color schemes --but I could be wrong.

View on HN

Fluke’s trademarks were able to prevent a competitor from importing yellow multimeters and getting stuck in customs:

https://hackaday.com/2014/03/19/multimeters-without-a-countr...

Though they made good on this incident:

https://www.sparkfun.com/news/1430

It's a bit misleading to say "yellow", it's the combination of dark gray body with yellow. Copying their branding with black instead of dark gray is fine, if Amazon is anything to go by.

This one crosses the line for me. There's a reason tools are brightly colored. It makes them easier to find in the mess of whatever you're trying to build or repair. If a yellow multimeter with a dark grey face can be trademarked and defended successfully, what about a tape measure with an orange or yellow case and black on the side? The yellow or orange is a functional part of the product. To say we have the trademark when you combine it with something as generic as dark grey on the face is ridiculous to me.

> what about a tape measure with an orange or yellow case and black on the side?

Interesting you should mention that, since Stanley has a trademark on a particular layout with yellow on the side.

I don't think it's particularly ridiculous, although I work for a company that is synonymous with a color. These are after using the particular consistent color branding for 20 years, 50 years, 100 years. After a generation or two, people associate the color with the category, but there are tons of other colors, even for specific criteria like "high viz". Entirely yellow is fine! Fluorescent green is fine! Light grey and yellow is fine.

Yeah, I think that shouldn't be able to be trademarked. I also work for a company with a trademarked color. It's ridiculous for us too. Though at least ours is a distinctive and kind of unusual shade rather than one of the primary colors. Being the exclusive producer of yellow and black tools isn't something I feel is necessary for a business.

Dewalt is interesting, because I always thought they copied industrial/pro colors, like caterpillar

Oh, you bring up something interesting now. I think Deere, has a "Deere green" (not the song).

My dad has an ancient DeWalt radial arm saw, and it's green.

Maybe, but yellow & black is also standard colour combination for industrial safety.

DeWalt won't be able to stop a competitor from selling yellow and black safety tape because the color is essential to the functioning of the product. The color of a cordless power tool, however, is not essential to its function; the color could be red, orange, chartreuse, blue, and the tool would work just as well.

Stanley tools are also black and yellow.

Dewalt is one of Stanley Black and Decker's brands. But I don' think they offer many power tools under the Stanley brand (though now SBD is using Dewalt for hand tools like tape measures, etc.).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com