Coke Zero's "Lawsuit" and the Similiar Property Theory?!

On the way back home from California, I watched a ton of television.  In fact, it's been years since I watched an entire afternoon of television; but, hey, the television was right in front of me and I was too tired to do much of my real work.  (That is, work on the chapter of University, Court, and Slave related to Thomas Cobb.)  Good thing that my years in Tuscaloosa sparked an interest in college football, because that was about the only thing on.

During one commercial break I was an advertisement for CokeZero.  The gimmick of this particular advertisement is some Coke officials consulting a lawyer to ask if they have a lawsuit against CokeZero for copying the taste of their product.  Never ceases to surprise me what Madison Avenue comes up with.  (New York Times on the ad campaign here.)  Anyway, the officials consult a real estate lawyer and ask if there's a possibility of a lawsuit when one neighbor builds an eerily similar house just next door to a distinctive house that is an architectural landmark?  I'm guessing "nothing" is the right answer to this one.  But it's always good to see real estate lawyers in popular culture.  And, who knows, maybe there's a restrictive covenant lurking in the background somewhere.

Want to see the commercial?  It's up on youtube!  Or you can visit the CokeZero website and click on the second video (the first one is of an immigration lawyer).

Alfred Brophy