A federal appeals court has ruled against the Citizens Financial Group in a dispute over who gets to use the Citizens name in a section of Pennsylvania, saying the Rhode Island-based giant can’t trump a century-old local competitor.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Thursday that Citizens infringed the trademark of the much-smaller Citizens National Bank of Evans City when it bought hundreds of Mellon Bank branches in Pennsylvania in 2001 and renamed them Citizens Bank.
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“Neither the principles of equity nor the federal Constitution favor the rights of the powerful over the rights of the weak merely because of size,” Judge Max Rosenn wrote for the three-judge panel, according to an Associated Press report. Citizens, however, is saying it plans to appeal.
Founded in 1880, Citizens National is one of hundreds of banks with “Citizens” in their names — most of them operating without confusion because their footprints don’t overlap. The problem in this case surfaced after Citizens Financial bought the Mellon Bank and converted its branches to the Citizens name. That left Citizens National, which serves an area north of Pittsburgh, with a rival “Citizens” bank on its turf, and all sorts of confusion among customers.
A federal jury had already found that Citizens Financial Group had infringed on Citizens National’s trademark, but a judge had ruled it would be too burdensome for the large bank to change its name, so he told the Pennsylvania bank to just use “Citizens National” in all its marketing materials and customer communications. Thursday’s ruling overturned that order.
“We disagree with the decision and will be appealing it to the full Circuit Court,” said Citizens spokeswoman Barbara Cottam. Asked how the bank would like the dispute to be resolved, she said only: “We want to use our name, Citizens Bank.” She declined to comment on whether Citizens National should change its name.
But with the acquisition of the Charter One Financial Co., of Ohio, bringing Citizens into yet another namesake’s territory — the Citizens Banking Corp.’s Citizens Bank, based in Michigan — the Providence bank is taking steps to avoid another clash.
“What we’re doing with the Midwest states we acquired through Charter One is that they will [remain as] Charter One,” Cottam said. The Ohio bank’s branches in Vermont and New York, however, will be converted to the Citizens name, she said.
