Naraku
Draconarius
When Hugh Hefner was going to launch his magazine in 1953, he chose the name "Stag Party". The publisher of the men's magazine "Stag" threatened to sue, so Hef changed the name to "Playboy".It was an Italian top-shelf magazine that ran from 1967 until 2001, and was effectively an Italian version of Playboy.
In 1979 the publisher attempted to sell the magazine into the US market, under the title "Adelina" (named after it's founder), asdding the tagline "The American edition of Italy's Playmen"
Playboy magazine immediately issued a lawsuit (they are Americans after all, and that's what Americans do), and obtained a restraining order that prevented Adelina from being published in the US. Despite this, a number of issues were in fact released in America in 1980, and these are of course rare and very expensive collectors items these days.
In 1981, an American judge found in favour of the American Playboy magazine (what a surprise) and Adelina was banned outright in the US as a result, and the court ruling also forbid the publisher from using the title Playmen in the US.
Needless to say, said judge is looking a bit stupid these days since we can now access almost anything from any country.
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Trademarks and brand image may not be taken to seriously in Italy, but they're very important in the US.
