According to CNNMONEY.com, a suit filed last week in Brooklyn federal court, Citigroup alleges that in using the same Citi abbreviation and red arc as its banking subsidiary, Citibank, All Citi Pawn has infringed on their trademark. Citigroup is seeking all of the business' profits since it adopted the All Citi name.
"What can I tell you? Its crazy. They're going wild for a little art that I put up. Theirs is a moon shape, mine is a V-shape, but I've already taken it down," pawn shop manager Bob Kay told CNN.
When contacted, Citgroup (C, Fortune 500) would say only that "as a matter of course, we work to protect the value of our trademarks." According to trademark attorney Michael Feigin, no matter how small an infraction this may seem, in order to keep a trademark, it has to be protected.
"It is important for Citigroup to know that no one is trading off their name - they need to protect their intellectual property." Feigin went on to say, however, that removing the offending logo should resolve the case. According to Kay, it has not
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Tuesday, February 3, 2009
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I'd just like to emphasize that I said, "removing the offending logo should resolve the case." It's not clear from the article, but my view is that they SHOULD and NEED to protect their mark to maintain it. However, that is accomplished simply by getting others to stop using an infringing mark.
- Michael J. Feigin, Esq.
Patent & Trademark Attorney
http://PatentLawNY.com
http://PatentLawNJ.com
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