

Earlier this afternoon Romania formally lodged a civil lawsuit with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in Hague, Netherlands against Queen’s University for use of the colours red, blue and gold in its visual identity.

Titus Corlatrean, Romania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs defended the suit to media reporters earlier today noting that the country had trademarked those particular shades of red, blue and gold after Romania had achieved independence.

“Upon breaking free from the chains of the dictatorial powers of the Ottoman Empire and winning our independence in 1877, our forefathers went to great pains to preserve our national identity, our flag, our peoples and our culture,” he said. “Our zeal in this regard never faltered. Our legacy, and her preservation has always been at the centre of the hearts of minds of Romanians. It is why, in 1991, when we completed the Constitution of Romania, our greatest statesman Gheorghe Finar formally trademarked our national colours. That another public institution has taken claim of them is unacceptable.’

Practicing Toronto lawyers and Intellectual property experts, Thomas Young and James Maxwell argue the state of Romania may have a case. "As bizarre as it sounds, corporations are in their capacity to formally trademark, license and sell under a particular colour”, said Maxwell.

“Typically owning a particular hue is limited within a given industry or product category, as we know is the case for Cadbury’s signature purple and UPS’ brown. However, Queen’s University, though a public research university, technically sold tuition to incoming students from around the globe with the exact same hues in their visual identity, which includes all formally distributed promotional materials and digital communications’, added Young.



"This is uncharted territory legally speaking because it is a state that is filing the suit, but they do have a case. It’s for the court to determine whether states can legally own colours”, said Queen’s law professor Donald Goldman.



When asked how much Romania may be entitled to, Goldman offered, “Again, its hard to say. It may be a combination of the revenues Queen’s has earned through research funding and tuition since it branded itself formally with the tricolour since 1991, which is well over its $722 million endowment, in addition to the lost tourism experienced by Romania. I suspect Romania is also looking for punitive damages, so it may very well be in the billions”.



While this may be the first time a state has made claim to a particular colour, this is not the first time a non-corporate entity has licensed particular hues of colour. Paint giant, Dulux has partnered with UNICEF to sell over 16.7 million shades and hues at $2 a colour. Rapper Jay-Z has also officially trademarked and licensed ‘Jay-Z Blue’ - a silverfish colour, with tiny flecks of platinum. As the sole proprietor, Jay-Z owns the exclusive right to sales and distribution of the colour.



Principal Daniel Woolf was unavailable for comment.

Justin Mathews, Assistant to the Assisstant Editor in Chief of the Queen’s Tartan