Two of the largest oral care companies, Colgate Palmolive and GlaxoSmithKline, came to an agreement over a lawsuit involving the shape of toothpaste as it lies on the toothbrush in advertisements, also known as a nurdle.
Both companies display similarly shaped nurdles on the toothbrushes on advertisements and demonstrational content to show how much toothpaste is needed per usage. At first, GlaxoSmithKline filed a lawsuit against Colgate for trademark infringement, but Colgate countered the claim while its marketing team may have filed a professional liability insurance claim.
In addition, GlaxoSmithKline filed a lawsuit stating it holds the trademark rights to the triple-colored nurdle, as well as the term Triple Protection, which is advertised through its Aquafresh toothpaste line.
Colgate’s response was Glaxo’s trademark rights are unspecified and prohibit fair competition.
Glaxo maintains its Aquafresh consumers associate the toothpaste with the triple colored-scheme, and Colgate’s implementation of the strategy confuses its market.
Colgate’s latest Triple Action toothpaste has blue, green and white stripes on it, each color representing cavity protection, breath freshening and teeth whitening.
