The company points out that customers can't bank with the card or use it outside the U.S. But other stored-value cards, often branded by Visa or MasterCard, can be accessed for cash via atms worldwide and reloaded with cash online or at checkout counters without a bank account or face-to-face identity verification.

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Tax deals, it should be noted, often come in branded offerings with acronyms.

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Rather than incur millions in litigation costs, branded and generic companies often prefer to settle.

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Perhaps the biggest drawback to this business are the legal costs that generic companies often encounter when challenging well-entrenched branded drugs.

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In the entertainment business, which often views writers as interchangeable, Mr. Grahame-Smith has branded himself as a one-man factory for quirky, high-concept, multimedia franchises.

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Premji often stays at budget hotels when traveling in India and reportedly wears non-branded suits and flies economy.

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