Same-name problems continue to plague US-based and Germany-based Mercks. Bloomberg reports that while confusion has been an ongoing concern since the companies split in the early 20th century, a recent protest by the StopAIDS group is further proof that a different home base is not enough for activists to go on.

The latest problem is that activists protested the German Merck, known as Merck KGaA, in front of which they pitched a complaint against its move to block low-cost copies of patented drugs from flowing into South Africa, but the company that is actually involved is the Merck which has headquarters in New Jersey.