Colors can be trademarked in conjunction with certain services. Does this applies to UIs of computer programs as well?
Sure. Why would a computer UI be an exception? Law applies to computer interfaces the same way as it does to other things.
Trademarking colors is difficult though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_trade_markTldr: you can do it, but you have to argue real well that the color is distictive and associated exclusively with your brand.
An example of a trademarked color is ups brown
Violating copyright every time I take a shit
Fun fact: you can use most trademarked colors for anything as long as it isnt in the same sector as the company that trademarked it.
E.g, if a purse company trademarked a certain shade of pink, you could still sell computers that color.
So I can’t ship my shit?
Would I then run afoul if I branched out and had computer accessories, like laptop bags?
Not a lawyer, but hypothetically yes? I think it’s the same situation with Pantone colors being only legally viewable on Adobe software or whatever. (Will double check on the validity of that though)
then the purse company would have to convince a court that the color of your laptop bag incites confusion as to wether or not they made it.
Just don’t tell anyone, right? Mine is T-Mobile magenta.
I think UIs are more typically patented if they do something unique.
I’m pretty sure we know there are some trademarked UI elements though—I’d be surprised if the start button wasn’t a Microsoft trademark at least when they launched windows 95
To answer your unspoken question, yes, someone could have trademarked the yellow paint and stopped the madness right then and there.
Some article I saw about suing Tesla for using a color scheme reminiscent of Blade Runner 2049.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/blade-runner-2049-producers-sue-elon-musk-tesla-warner-bros-discovery-1.7359260
