PITTSBURGH – Saying the similar names are confusing its members, Clearview FCU, formerly a US Airways employees credit union, last week filed suit in federal court claiming the adoption of the name Clearview Credit, Inc., by a Florida credit counselor infringes on the credit union’s copyright and trademark.
“We have members in all 50 states, including Florida,” said Matt Pritchard, a lawyer for the $625 million credit union, “and there have been some incidents in which members have expressed some confusion as to whether Clearview Federal Credit Union has entered the credit counseling business in some way.”
The one-time airline credit union, which changed its name to Clearview in 2004 as part of a conversion to a community charter, filed a U.S. Trademark Registration on the name in 2003. It registered for the design mark in 2006 and has been using the Clearview name in marketing, ads, websites and signs all over the country, according to the suit.
On Jan. 5, 2009, Debt Reduction America, Inc., based in Tampa, changed its name to Clearview Credit Inc. The company, which solicits customers by mail and telephone, has “specifically targeted and solicited (credit union) members at least by mail in an apparent attempt to trade on the goodwill established by CFCU in connection with the CLEARVIEW marks,” according to the suit.
The action is the second trademark suit filed by a credit union in two weeks, following a trademark infringement action brought the prior week by Michigan First CU against First Michigan Bank, after the bank moved into its market by acquiring a failed institution from the FDIC.
Clearview FCU’s Pritchard says the debt counseling company is seeking to use the credit union’s good reputation to further its own business. “Certainly, there is a philosophical approach that is different,” he said of the debt counselor’s for-profit status.
The suit asks that the Florida debt counselor be permanently enjoined and restrained from using the Clearview Credit mark or any other mark that may confuse it with the credit union, which is based in the Pittsburgh suburb of Moon Township and has branches in Charlotte and members all over the country. The credit union also is asking the court to order the company to destroy all labels, signs, catalogs, literature, marketing materials and advertisements that may confuse consumers and to pay financial treble damages to the credit union for any harm the confusion may have already caused.
The president of Clearview Credit did not return phone calls seeking comment.
