Obi: Baumarktkette verliert Farbstreit um „Obi-Orange“

In a significant decision, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruled that the home improvement retailer Obi will not receive trademark protection for its distinctive "house color" - Orange. The court dismissed Obi's appeal against a previous ruling from the Federal Patent Court, which had previously declared the deletion of the color mark to be legally valid, following applications from competing home improvement retailers.

The BGH determined that the color Orange may only serve as a reference to home improvement retailers in general, rather than a specific one like Obi. The court president explained that a specific shade of Orange, incorporating Obi's logo, is a central and unique element of the company's brand identity. This marks the end of a prolonged dispute between Obi and its competitors, Hornbach and Globus, who both sought the deletion of Obi's Orange color mark.