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  • 1.  Brand name in foreign language?

    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous
    Posted 02-Dec-2021 14:26
    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

    Hello!

    I have a question regarding the branding name of a new product.  Recently my company has developed a new device, and our marketing team gave it a French name, with a french alphabet in it.
    My question is: Is it ok to submit it as it is to FDA, or should I request the marketing team to change the name?

    Thank you


  • 2.  RE: Brand name in foreign language?

    Posted 03-Dec-2021 05:14
    Hello anon,

    The US FDA perspective of brand names is just ensuring there is no implied claims made by the name or description.  I have worked with many different kinds of products with many different kinds of names, names meaning something in other languages or containing umlauts or tremas - the two dots above or accent.  The only issue you may have with this approach is having the text in different conditions, such as labels or marketing information.  There would need to be the text set which could have the French alphabet letters.  But when talking about the 510(k) Summary or Clearance letter, it might be better to just have non-umlaut or non-accent letters as an alternative name for the brand name just in case.

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    Richard Vincins RAC
    Vice President Global Regulatory Affairs
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  • 3.  RE: Brand name in foreign language?

    Posted 04-Dec-2021 10:33
    Me, I would not ask the marketing experts to change a product name only because the orthography is challenging.

    It will cause you some extra work, but it's manageable. As Richard said, the alternative name is the traditional solution.

    Early typewriters and early electronic systems were usually limited to the ASCII character set, while most modern systems work with at least the Unicode Latin 1 set. You may find that FURLS still chokes on curly apostrophes and some of the accented characters, just as some websites and email systems will turn them into gobbledygook.

    But when you are forced to write "Renée and François" as "Renee and Francois", for example, it remains comprehensible.

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    Anne LeBlanc
    United States
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