Traveling through different parts of the world, you may notice differences in the way that familiar brands are marketed — different packaging, different celebrity spokespeople, and perhaps, the availability of flavors that are different from the ones you’re used to seeing in your local stores.

One interesting example of regional brand differences involves the Kit Kat candy bar, as pointed out by CNN recently. Nestlé’s Kit Kat bar is quite popular in Japan. One reason is that the product name is very similar to the Japanese phrase, “Kitto Katsu,” which, when translated, means “surely win.” That phrase happens to be used by students before exams as a term of good luck. Another reason for its popularity is that Nestlé produces special edition flavors of the candy bar for special events and holidays.

In your home country, you may never get to see the wasabi or green tea-flavored Kit Kat bars. How about the corn flavor? Media organization NPR asked its staff to taste some of the different Kit Kat flavors and their reaction to the corn-flavored bar ranged from “Creepy” to “A Kit Kat for the heartland.” More than 200 special edition flavors have been produced since 2000, including jacket-baked potato with butter, Camembert cheese, and hot pepper.

What are your favorite brand differences that you’ve noticed on your travels?

Viagra. ViaGuara? There will no longer be a chance of confusing those two names since a European Union high court ruled that ViaGuara cannot be registered as a trademark because of its similarity to the name of the erectile dysfunction drug, Viagra.

The makers of ViaGuara, a Polish company of the same name, applied for an EU trademark for the energy drink in 2005 and was refused. Last week, the high court rejected the company’s appeal, ruling that the name similarity would allow ViaGuara “to take unfair advantage of the distinctive character or repute of the trademark Viagra.”

The court also noted the dangerous medical implications of allowing consumers to believe there is a link between an energy drink and an anti-impotence drug. The ruling stated, “Even if the non-alcoholic drinks concerned do not actually have the same benefits as a drug to treat erectile dysfunction, the consumer will be inclined to buy them thinking that he will find similar qualities, such as an increase in libido.”

Pfizer manufactures Viagra, which is sometimes referred to as “the little blue pill.”

What other similarly named products are your favorites?

For television viewers of CNN, you’ve probably noticed the news channel’s use of oversized touch screen displays. These so-called Magic Walls first became popular during the 2008 U.S. presidential primaries as a way to visually display voting results. With just the touch of a finger, a graphic image can be enlarged, hyperlinked, or shrunk back down to its original size. It’s not unusual these days to see similar technology being used on other television channels, including several news channels and sports shows.

Now those other channels may not be able to call their displays Magic Walls, since earlier this month, CNN applied for a trademark for the term in the U.S. The network applied for the trademark in two classes: International Class 38 for television broadcast and transmission services, and International Class 41 for entertainment services; namely computer-generated imagery and computer-generated graphics for use in the production of television and Internet coverage of news, entertainment, current events, and politics. Here’s a copy of one of the CNN Magic Wall trademark records from Corsearch® Advantage™:

TV Newser reported that the term Magic Wall was originally a placeholder after CNN had considered other names, including “Touch Wall” and “White Board.” CNN’s other trademarks include the names of two of its shows, The Situation Room and Reliable Sources.

We found a few other Magic Wall-related U.S. trademark filings. There’s a trademark for Magic Wall System, a basement wall finishing system, which is owned by Dry Basement, Inc. in Missouri. There’s also a trademark for Wallmagic, owned by Wagner Spray Tech Corporation.

What’s your favorite source of television news?

On January 12, 2012, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) opened the application window for its New Generic Top Level Domain program. This process allows successful applicants to run their own domain registry (i.e. .brand) and could potentially raise the number of available gTLD domains from its current level to more than 1,000 new options. Here are some key dates that brand owners should be aware of:

April 12, 2012: New gTLD application window closes.

Early May 2012: Public Application Information will be posted to ICANN’s website.

April through November 2012: Application Review, Initial Evaluation, and an Objection Filing period will occur. Brand owners should review the posted applications to monitor for possible infringement. Any dispute resolution proceedings must be based on one of the following four criteria and filed with the specific organization contracted to handle the dispute:

• String Confusion Objections – objector must be a current TLD operator or gTLD applicant in the same round
• Legal Rights Objections – objector must be a legal rights owner whose rights are being infringed
• Limited Public Interest – objections may be filed by any member of the public
• Community Objections  – objector must be an established institution clearly defined with a community

October 2012: ICANN expects to release the details and procedures for trademark owners to file their registered marks within the Trademark Clearinghouse.

Early 2013: Timeframe for first new registries to go live.

Corsearch’s Corporate Domain Management Team can assist brand owners with domain registration, searching, monitoring, and management needs throughout the new gTLD launch. You can contact us here.

At a recent event, the World Luxury Association released its list of the World’s Top 100 Most Valuable Luxury Brands. Comprised of brands in several diverse categories, like cars, yachts, aircraft, fashion, jewelry, and more, the list is based on the brand’s influence on a global scale, market share, consumer feedback, and “other composite scores.”

The brand report cited China as the world’s largest consumer of luxury goods. The World Trademark Review Blog this week cited a Hong Kong-based investment bank banks’ estimate that, by 2020, Chinese consumers will account for 44% of worldwide luxury goods sales. It’s interesting to note that only one Chinese brand made the top luxury brands list — Sun Valley Icewine — as one of the top 10 “most innovative” brands.

Here are some highlights from the World’s Top 100 Most Valuable Luxury Brands list:

Top 10 Innovative Brands
Harley Davidson
Bose
Vertu
Lotos
Steinway
Bluthner
Segway PT
Aurora
Sun Valley Icewine
Shang Xia

Top 10 Fashion Brands:
Hermès
Chanel
Louis Vuitton
Christian Dior
Ferragamo
Versace
Prada
Fendi
Giorgio Armani
Ermenegildo Zegna

Top 10 Car Brands:
Rolls-Royce
Bentley
Ferrari
Lamborghini
Maserati
Aston Martin
Bugatti
Spyker
Pagani
Koenigsegg

What’s your favorite luxury brand?

It was late last year when we wrote about two separate attempts to register “New College” as a trademark in the UK. One trademark bid, for New College, Oxford, ended up in a successful registration in late December 2011. The other, from the New College of the Humanities, a new private college in London, is facing an official objection by the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO). The IPO has not made public the reason for the objection, and the application has not been formally refused.

The University of Oxford’s New College had raised concerns about possible confusion between the two schools’ names, and as a result registered New College, Oxford as a trademark. The BBC reports that the New College of the Humanities is planning to re-apply for the trademark, which was originally filed last May.

Do you think the school’s new application will be successful?

Internet 2011: How Many Domain Names Are There?
Pingdom published some very interesting stats about the state of the Web at the end of last year, including the total number of domain names. Care to make a guess?

Australian Slang Phrase “Not Offensive” for Trademark Purposes
The name of a snack food (we’ll let you read it in the article) is eligible for a trademark since the courts say it’s a normal part of Aussie speech.

What’s the Most Trusted Brand in India?
Find out in The Brand Trust Report, India Study 2012.

2012 Olympics: Will the Games Benefit Major UK Brands?
As this summer’s London Olympic games approach, a new research study looks at their expected effect on business.

In royal circles, the ranking goes something like this: Emperor and Empress, followed by King and Queen, then Viceroy and Vicereine, next Archduke and Archduchess, and then you jump down two more steps to the most famous royal couple, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and on to Prince and Princess.

Very few of us are born into royal families, but many people have been known to impersonate royalty, others just reach for the look; hence, the popularity of tiaras and clothing with embroidered crests. Then, there are others who reach for the perfumes with royal-sounding names: Diamond Princess Trina and Alexander McQueen Kingdom for women, The Baron, I Am King, and Tsar, for men.

Last summer, Sean Combs (a/k/a Puff Daddy, P. Diddy) launched a female fragrance, called Empress, to complement his I Am King men’s cologne. Now Sean John Fragrances is being sued for trademark infringement and unfair competition by Empress, Inc. and Empress Hair Care Products, claiming the fragrance targets identical markets.

In court documents, Empress alleges that a Sean John representative contacted the company last year requesting that it give up the Empress trademark in exchange for money. The company claims it refused the offer. Here’s a copy of the Empress trademark record from Corsearch^® Advantage™:

Do you see a likelihood of confusion?

Just about 90 miles down the road from Waco, Texas, the Dublin Dr Pepper Bottling Co. announced recently that it would no longer make or distribute any Dr Pepper products after settling a licensing lawsuit with DPSG. They’re also selling their franchise to the parent corporation. Dr Pepper, the soft drink known for it’s “one-of-a-kind” taste originated in Waco, which is now home to the Dr Pepper Museum. The soda is a brand within the Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPSG).

DPSG had accused the Dublin bottler of selling outside the agreed sales area and confusing customers with its own unauthorized brand, known as “Dublin Dr Pepper.” What’s the difference between the real thing and Dublin Dr Pepper? The Dublin version was made with cane sugar (most companies have switched to corn syrup), which helped it attain a cult-like following.

Dr Pepper’s unique flavor has been the subject of its marketing campaigns over the years (Remember “I’m a pepper, he’s a pepper”?) A Waco pharmacist created the soda back in 1885; his name wasn’t Pepper. There are several theories about how the product actually got its name. Some say it comes from the word “pepsin” — an enzyme that helps with digestion. Since many early sodas were marketed as “pick-me-up” tonics, some say the name came from the “pep” that it gave its users. Then, there’s the school of thought that it’s named after a real “Doctor Pepper,” like a man named Dr. Charles T. Pepper of Virginia.

One last bit of Dr Pepper trivia for you punctuation aficionados: The period after “Dr” was discontinued in the 1950s. Check out the Dr Pepper FAQ for more info.

Have any of you ever tasted a Dublin Dr Pepper? What’s your favorite soft drink?

Even if you aren’t old enough to have been buying albums in the 1960s, you may know that Andy Warhol’s famous banana image appeared on the cover of the Velvet Underground’s debut album, ‘The Velvet Underground & Nico.’ Did you also know that it included a “Peel slowly and see” sticker? That banana image is now the subject of a trademark infringement suit filed by The Velvet Underground against the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts claiming that it’s been illegally licensed for use on other products. The Velvet Underground’s suit claims that the banana is synonymous with the band’s image.

Warhol also happened to manage the group, which featured, among others, Lou Reed and John Cale. ‘The Velvet Underground & Nico’ happens to be ranked number 13 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

A version of the image is featured on the Foundation’s website under the heading of “View licensing samples” here. Court papers, filed in New York federal court state, “The symbol has become so identified with the Velvet Underground … that members of the public, particularly those who listen to rock music, immediately recognize the banana design as the symbol of the Velvet Underground.” Among the products that now carry the image are iPad covers and accessories. The suit seeks unspecified damages for trademark infringement and unfair competition.

What’s your favorite album cover art?