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At what resolution can you own a color? At 8bits, we can only have 256 brands. 8 bits per channel gives us 24 bits or 16 million unique brands - still not enoug
by kennywinker 4y ago
At what resolution can you own a color? At 8bits, we can only have 256 brands. 8 bits per channel gives us 24 bits or 16 million unique brands - still not enough, but closer - either way we’re left trying to tell the difference between the brand associated with rgb(255,0,0) and the brand associated with rgb(254,0,0) which is so close as to not make a difference to most people. So we’ve either got the ability for only as many colors/brands as the average human can distinguish - maybe the 140 named colors in html? - or corporations should not be allowed to trademark colors and the idea is baldly stupid.
- bdowling 4y agoThe legal answer is a resolution of "likelihood of confusion" to a consumer of the same or closely-related goods or services.
- kennywinker 4y agoWhich is different from “owning” a color. But with a dysfunctional legal system, it ends up back at the same place: A lot of unrelated companies afraid to use a color or a name or a mark that is similar in ANY way to a major brand for fear of being sued into oblivion. Functionally allowing big money to own simple words (Windows), common symbols (chevron), and colors.
- eru 4y agoIt's not quite as bad as you make it out to be. Eg Coca Cola might own red for drinks, but you can still use eg red-and-blue on your logo for your own brand of drink.
- quickthrower2 4y agoBy the loose definition of Magenta in the article there are probably about 20-30 or so distinct colours, I imagine.
- kennywinker 4y ago“20-30 brands ought to be enough for anybody” - bill gates (allegedly)