The famous British reggae/pop group UB40 was founded in 1978 by a few unemployed friends. In 2008 lead singer Ali Campbell and Mickey Virtue leave the band, after some disagreement with management. Duncan Campbell, Ali’s brother, became the new lead singer.

In many companies the corporate identity is implemented in every fiber of the company. This often includes vehicles. In order to prevent coat tail riding from third parties, visual elements are often registered as designs. In the European Union it's possible to register a position mark.  Although European authorities have the tendency to refuse these type of trademarks, they sometimes accepted them.

In order to gain attention for your products with the general public it can be very attractive to align your products with the reputation of an existing trademark. However, if this is done too explicitly it can lead to problems. Fashion designer CHANEL (established in 1909 by Coco Chanel) has been doing well on the market since the arrival of Karl Lagerfeld. In order to protect their trademarks well (and act against counterfeit) both the word CHANEL and the logo (two mirrored Cs) have been registered as trademarks.

Ernest Evans, better known as the rocker Chubby Checker, became world-famous in the sixties with his TWIST numbers. To protect his interests Evens registered his stage name CHUBBY CHECKER as a trademark in 1997. This year it came to a lawsuit against HP.