Roger Moody, of Sheffield firm Glass and Glazing, is accused of infringing trademark laws.

Property care group Dyno-rod, which includes a glazing firm, says it owns the copyright on the day-glo colour and has told Mr Moody to repaint his vehicles.

The Sheffield glazier said that when his company painted their vans orange six years ago, colour trademarking did not exist.

He said they had never heard of Dyno-glazing, part of the Dyno-business.

Mr Moody added that Dyno-rod also wanted the glazing firm to hand over anything it had that was orange - including his tie and the jumper.

'Day-glo is us'

But John Chaplin, managing director of Dyno-rod, denied that the company was seeking to trademark the colour orange "in the raw", as it is used by public service vehicles.

"All that we are seeking is that within the provision of property care services day-glo is us," he said.

James Love of Irwin Mitchell Solicitors said the case would closely examine the trademark registrations of colours.

He asked: "How wide is their ownership - does it cover a wide range of orange?" Is it just a bright luminous orange?

"The case really does have a very wide significance for business in general."

Glass and Glazing hopes it can reach an agreement before the case goes to court.