KEY POINTS:
Telecom has not only lost its phone and internet line monopoly but also its monopoly over the colour on directory websites.
The Commissioner of Trade Marks, who oversees the registration of trademarks, has ordered Telecom yellow removed from the register. The decision comes as Telecom tries to sell its Yellow Pages business, but the company is playing down its importance.
The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand granted Telecom the trademark right over the colour of yellow in November 2001. This effectively gave it a monopoly right over the colour on local internet search pages, including its Yellow Pages website.
That upset Cabbage Tree Press, publishers of the Trade & Exchange papers and website, which applied to the commissioner to have the registration of the colour cancelled. It said the trademark had negatively affected its business, which had used yellow for many years.
Cabbage Tree Press lawyer Andrew Brown said: "It's a pretty major thing to give someone unique use of a primary colour."
It had stopped anybody who provided directory services from using yellow on the internet here.
The commissioner accepted Cabbage Tree Press' argument that the public did not generally regard a colour as a trademark and Telecom had failed in legal requirements to educate it into accepting the colour as a trademark.
Yellow Pages group general manager Dudley Enoka said colour trademarks were recognised as difficult to register.
"While the trademark would have provided some added protection for our online pages, the decision is really just a case of business as usual for us. The name Yellow Pages is a registered trademark and the Yellow Pages print and online directories will still be yellow."
