Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

If you a can of soda with the brand "cocaine" on it, would you be offended?

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James Lindon, Ph.D. Patent Attorney
Lindon & Lindon, LLC
Cleveland, Ohio
Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, Pharmacy Law, Litigation
[this is not legal advice - provided for discussion only]
Intellectual Property for the Individual and Small Business: Identify, Protect, Enforce, Defend.
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
http://www.LindonLaw.com

Nope! I think that the entire controversy over this brand is ridiculous. It is propagated by the same overly-conservative people who have a problem with violent video games.

Just because I enjoy a drink called cocaine, does not mean that I will be tempted to go out and do powerful street drugs. You have to give people a little more credit than that.

I remember back in the 60s, someone produced a pseudo logo of the Coca Cola brand, replaced by the word Cocaine. If I remember right, Coca Cola successfully sued to have it removed. (Probably a major collector`s item now.)

Personally, I wouldn`t be offended. But if I owned the Coca Cola brand, I`d be offended, even all these years later.

On the other hand, I remember a story that might be true or might be urban legend. It involved the Rolling Stones, and one of their recordings. In that package they included a pair of pink lady`s panties.

Nobody knows how, but information leaked to the US Customs department, connecting the panties to a fire hazard. The result was to interdict the container ship coming from the UK, I think it was.

Of course the story made international headlines, everyone on the planet heard about the release of the new album (like a CD, only bigger), and the record sold gazillions.

Hm....so I wonder about the re-emergence of yet another controversy over the name "Coca Cola."