Un-branding State Codes?

Some of my colleagues here at Buffalo pointed out that the cover of the new volumes of New York Consolidated Laws Service (CLS) published by LexisNexis are strikingly similar to it's competitor McKinney's Consolidated Laws of New York published by Thomson Reuters. So far we have received new CLS volumes for 4 (CPLR) and 40 (Workers Comp). In terms of content, the traditional blue CLS volumes feature forms as indicated on the spine. The new CLS volumes boast "Forms Practice Insight" which appears to be an attempt to provide commentary like its competitor's Practice Commentaries. Here are some observations about the physical similarities between McKinney's and the new CLS volumes: Both covers are pretty much the same shade of black AND both feature gold typography. The typography is very similar except that McKinney's is serif and CLS is sans serif. The new CLS volumes feature a black on black imprint of "CLS" on the spine and the cover. The traditional blue CLS volumes feature "CLS" in a visible shade of blue darker than the book cover.  Though the new CLS volumes do have the publisher's name on the spine, it's small letters are  very subtle. The only conclusion we can draw about the un-branding is that the publisher of CLS wants us to be confused. Is this happenstance or is this a trend? Have law librarians in states with two competing state codes observed a similar pattern? [BA]