We’ve written a lot about single color trademarks here over the years. Weems, the owner of the Flexilla brand has unleashed its federally-registered chartreuse-colored non-traditional trademark for “compressed air hoses” against Plews for selling air hoses with a “bright florescent green color” — a color that Plews claims online “reduces chances of tripping while on a job site.

Weems owns a non-traditional trademark registration on the Principal Register for chartreuse in connection with “compressed air hoses” — but, it recently abandoned a single color trademark application for electrical power extension cords, and it hasn’t yet obtained a registration on the Principal Register for chartreuse in connection with garden variety hoses (i.e., garden hoses):

FlexillaHose

Weems owns a pair of Supplemental Registrations for the chartreuse color (one having a black stripe, the other having a green stripe) in connection with watering hoses and garden hoses, but two months ago its attempt to achieve Principal Registration for chartreuse in connection with those goods and others was refused by the USPTO (Weems has until April 2017 to respond to the failure to function as a trademark and lack of distinctiveness refusals).

More thoughts on this case tomorrow, but in the meantime, do you think Plews tripped into this trademark dispute, or does it likely have a plan and a valid defense?

Hat tip to Jason for flagging the Weems v. Plews trademark complaint for us, currently pending in the Northern District of Iowa.