American sweet giant Cadburys has forced the Meaningful Chocolate Company, producers of the UK’s first fair trade religious chocolate tree decorations, to redesign its faith-based range after being advised that ‘Advent purple belongs to Cadbury’, reports the Independent Catholic News.
But the Bishop of Chelmsford, Rt Revd Stephen Cotterell commented: "Cadbury should reflect that before they even existed, the colour purple was around and – perish the thought – after they have gone, it will still be here. You may own the rights to purple, but you can’t own the colour.
"Fighting some battles, even ones you win, can actually be demeaning. Far better to be generous, then no one loses.
“Funny though it is, I am reliably told that companies can, under some circumstances, own the rights to a colour and even the Church of England has a preferred shade of its own. But isn’t this a case where common sense might prevail?
The Meaningful Chocolate Company is not a threat to Cadbury. The background hue of their packaging may resemble a bar of their much-loved Dairy Milk brand, but everything else about the product makes it clear that this is something distinctively different."
The company has been advised by its legal team that Cadbury has secured the rights to the colour purple in the UK.
David Marshall, from the Meaningful Chocolate Company, said: “We understand that anything that might be interpreted as purple needs to be avoided. For this reason we have changed the packaging of our religious Christmas Tree Decorations. This year advent is a warm red.”
Who owns purple?
FULL STORY Bishop calls on Cadbury to stop being precious over purple (ICN)