Qualitex Co. v. Jacobson Products Co., Inc., 514 U.S. 159 (1995), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a color could meet the legal requirements for trademark registration under the Lanham Act, provided that it has acquired secondary meaning in the market.

In 1989, Jacobson began selling their own pads to dry cleaners which were a similar color to those of Qualitex.

[3] Justice Breyer, writing for a unanimous 9-0 court, overturned the Ninth Circuit's decision, holding that the Lanham Act was very broad in its definition of what a trademark could be.

Breyer also determined that the functionality doctrine was no bar to the registration of the plaintiff's color as a trademark.

Although sometimes color plays an important role (unrelated to source identification) in making a product more desirable, sometimes it does not.