Mitre 10 sees red over Masters but rollout continues

The Mitre 10 hardware store franchise has failed to stop Woolworths from rolling out its Masters hardware stores, with a Victorian court rejecting Mitre 10’s request for an injunction and questioning Mitre 10’s argument that the Masters colour scheme was so similar to its own it could confuse customers.

Justice Cameron Macauley of the Victorian Supreme Court yesterday said he had “real reservations” about Mitre 10’s position the blue and grey colour schemes were so similar that customers might mistakenly enter a Masters store thinking it was a Mitre 10 store, or might mistakenly believe the two businesses were linked.

A full trial is expected before the end of the year. In the meantime, the first Masters store is set to be opened in the north-west Melbourne suburb of Braybrook in September, the first of 150 stores planned in the highly competitive home repairs sector led by Bunnings.

The case brings back memories of a long-running spat between Cadbury and Darrell Lea over the latter’s use of the colour purple.

The Federal Court in 2008 found in favour of Darrell Lea, saying its packaging and advertising did not constitute misleading or deceptive conduct.

Independent brand adviser Michel Hogan cautions Mitre 10 against spending too much time on colours at the expense of the wider issue of brand differentiation.

“All this feels like a distraction,” Hogan says.

“If Mitre 10 is really worried that the only reason a customer is going to go with them is because of the colours of its store, I’d worry for their brand on many levels.”

Hogan says while she feels for Mitre 10, because it has a “gorilla knocking at its door”, it ought to focus on ensuring it provides customers a reason to visit and spend money, irrespective of new competition.

“Companies should vigorously and vocally defend their brands, but I’m not sure colour is the battle field.”

“It does become a baseline by which other cases get measured, and potentially dissuades other companies from fighting a similar battle.”

Hogan also points out that with just six primary colours, businesses have limited choices.

“A bigger case for argument would be if, for example, the Woolworths hardware logo looked a little too close to the Mitre 10 logo.

“It comes down to what is somebody’s point of recognition?”