Trolling The Trademark Troll: Lemonade CEO Releases Chrome Extension To Remove Magenta From Websites
from the pink-out dept
You will recall that last month we discussed the latest iteration of T-Mobile's ongoing war to defend its trademark on the color magenta, as well as close variants of that color. While there are instances in which a particularly unique color or shade of color can be trademarked by a company, this case involved T-Mobile's parent company, Deutsche Telekom, bullying insurance company Lemonade out of using the color magenta in its branding. Given that the insurance and mobile phone industries are quite disparate, this never should have been a dispute, regardless of how ridiculous it is for a company to have exclusive rights to a color like magenta.
The folks at Lemonade appear to agree. While the company complied with Telekom's C&D, it also launched a PR blitz to highlight how insane this all is. First, Lemonade launched its #FreeThePink campaign to raised public awareness, and is taking its case to EUIPO to try and invalidate the trademark. But that wasn't all. The staff of Lemonade has now released a Chrome browser extension that, ahem, helps enact T-Mobile's vision of being the only purveyor of pink out there.
Pending the decision of European IP authorities, a Lemonade employee, Itamar Kestenbaum, wrote a Chrome extension called Pink-Out.
In fact, it's fair to say that Kestenbaum primarily wanted to showcase Deutsche Telekom's appalling behavior.
What the extension – essentially designed to troll the troll – does is strip all webpages, except those belonging to the German company itself, of “questionable shades.”
The app itself claims it helps those browsing the internet to be "pink-compliant", chiefly as a way to highlight the absurdity of all of this. In addition, the extension's page says that with a click of a button all pink is removed from the depiction of public websites, except those owned by T-Mobile. The page concludes with:
This extension is free -- like the color pink should be.
I'll give the company this: they're certainly making Lemonade out of the magenta-hued lemons T-Mobile has handed them.
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Filed Under: chrome extension, magenta, troll. trademark
Companies: lemonade, t-mobile
Reader Comments
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I hope it isn’t pink lemonade.
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That would be a trademark violation.
Guess that means next week we'll see a story about Deutsche Telekom sending a C&D letter to a seven year old running a corner lemonade stand.
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Mattel might want to weigh on on the use of Barbie Pink which well precedes that upstart T-Mobile.
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Giving corporations trademark on colors is putrid bullshit from our government obviously bending over to accomodate anything these corporate monsters want.
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Given the 'die a hero or live long enough to become the villain' path most follow - it'll be Lemonade doing that.
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These corporations DO NOT HAVE THE FUCKING RIGHT TO STEAL COLOR FOR THEIR FUCKING BUSINESS. BOYCOTT THEM.
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Re: Re:
What did you say? Couldn't hear you over the shouting.
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I think he said something about T Mobile not performing color-based sex correctly for their brothel... but I can't be sure.
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Re: Re:
Your comment stopped being relevant once you started using all capital letters an profanity.
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Pink
But everyone wears the ribbon. You must wear the ribbon!
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Re: Re: Re:
Incorrect.
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I absolutely will not be patronizing German telecoms anymore.
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Don't be absurd. There's no reason for them to fear! It's not like pink has been trademarked, only magenta. Totally different. /s
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Re: Pink
in best Johnny Cochran voice "If the ribbon fits, you must wear it."
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Not anymore.
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What is it that is happening here with all the hypersensitivity with this pussified generation of things that everyone would rather comment sillily on capitalisation rather than heave to on the substance of what I wrote? I am not using markup so I use capitals to emphasize the herisy of what these corporations are doing to America's FREEDOM. And I get back, ooh I can't hear you over your shouting, wah wah. Good God you all..
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Re: Grammer, uh, what is it good for?
Speaking of hypersensitivity bro...
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T-mobile: we pretend to be nice, but we WILL screw you over and claim we invented colors.
And if we lie about that, what do you think we do to your monthly billing that we think you won't notice?
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Why not just use markup? It’s a lot easier to read bold or italic text than all caps, and it honestly doesn’t take much effort to do.
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T Mobile is NOT magenta!
The T-mobile guy is RETARDED!!!! That color is NOT magenta! Magenta is a disgusting off-hot pink turdy color. Since he pretends to want magenta, then give him that. That should free up the beautiful fuchsia (aka hot pink) that the turd doesn't deserve. And he will be forced to change colors. Why does a dude want with hot pink anyway? Is he crazy?!?
Magenta is a very dull dark pinkish raspberry. When you look at a pink color and you want to vomit, that's magenta. Why are yanks so retarded? Seriously! Go to Google Images and all the colors are wrong over 80% of the time! Hot pink = fuchsia. Magenta = fugliest color that stupid yanks can have. We, in Europe, know our colors. Don't try to appropriate them dumb yanks! Yanks = ignoramuses of the planet who call "brown" the red skins (LOL!) and who call the same redskins "Hispanic" (which means originating from Spain!) just because their ancestors got screwed (literally) by Whites from Spain.
NEWSFLASH: if you're a Mayan or an Aztec, you're NOT "Hispanic" nor "Latino", even if you ride in a chariot and wear a toga. You're still a red skin, not brown, not Hispanic, a red skin the same as Cherokees, Sioux and Lakota "Indians". Mexicans = Indians, NOT Hispanic. If you're gonna be wrong, be Indian, but NOT, NEVER Hispanic. You are NOT White. So go back to school, let go of the White man's language (Spanish) and learn your own Indian languages. As for the turd: no, you do not deserve monopoly on a color, until you learn color names, you daltonian morons!
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The T Mobile color is NOT magenta, it is HOT PINK aka fuchsia. And NO, they are NOT the same!!! That's why there's different names for it. Why are you dummies so damn uneducated!?!??! Magenta is a gross color, like a very dark raspberry pink bleeding with your period dirt. That's magenta. There's different hues of it but that's it. The blonde in the sitcom mom often wears it. It's a very dark dull raspberry pink. NOT the bright hot pink the turd uses. He wants magenta? Make him switch colors!
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Oh shut up, you worthless turd! He's right and you know it. Don't like it? Fuck the hell off!
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