The scorching weather savaging Zhengzhou city for the past few days had yet met its most unexpected side-effect: the local beverage giant MIXUE Ice Cream & Tea blackened its brand logo as a self-mocking answer to the heat wave. 

Despite its promotional charade, the act of MIXUE also triggered discussions among law practitioners on necessity of re-registering the trademark for changed color. 

Generally speaking, black and white trademarks registered by enterprise (which is also the case with MIXUE), can be colored at will. Therefore, there is no need for MIXUE to re-register its trademark. 

Whether the trademark color can be changed depends on whether the pattern submitted at the time of application is colored or black and white. If it is colored, the same color or combination of colors as registered must be used in actual use. However, if it is black and white, and no color is specified, the registrant may alter the color according to the needs in the actual use, making it more flexible. For decoration purposes, it is generally allowed to add borders, shading, backing or gradient to trademarks. 

Although there exist many restrictions, colors are more suitable for some trademarks, such as trademarks that meet these conditions: 

1. For product which needs to be displayed with color, the trademark thereof can be registered in color mode, so that consumers can understand the characteristics and usage of product through its trademark and deepen their overall impression of said trademark. 

2. Some brand logos have not applied for trademarks, they have left a deep impression on the public in the long-term promotion. There is no need to modify the colors of these trademarks at will to avoid damaging the original impression, so the registrant can choose to apply for colored trademarks. 

3. Some trademarks are designed to be very simple in structure or patterns. Despite their minimalism look, they may lack significance in the eyes of the examiner, in which case the registrant can apply for colored trademarks to improve the significance of trademarks.