Now the winter season is nearing the fat is removed from ice skates again and all skaters get in the starting blocks. Real pros wear skintight skating suits as connoiseurs know. The pros of the KNSB - the Dutch national skating union - are wearing suits which are red, white and blue coloured since 1983. These colours ressemble not only the colours of the Dutch flag, but are also the business colours of insurance company Aegon, main sponsor of the KNSB. Apparently - so reported NRC shortly yesterday evening - there is a fuzz going on between Nike, producer of the suits, and the KNSB and Aegon over the colours used in the new suits for this season: they will not be red, white and blue, but either black or grey. Aegon disagrees with this fiercely and has threatened to cancel the sponsoring agreement (6 million Euro on a yearly basis) if the grey or black suits will be used. It seems that Aegon has convinced the KNSB to summon Nike to produce the old suits again. Makes me wonder whether a trade mark registration with regard to the colour combinations on the suits would have been a big stick for Aegon to prevent this colourful contractual issue?