Citibank accuses CitisecOnline of trademark infringement

The Citibank group has lodged a complaint against online broker firm CitisecOnline Inc. for alleged infringement trademark.

Citigroup and Citibank N.A. claimed that CitisecOnline‚s use of the trademarks bearing the mark "Citi" constitute trademark infringement of its registered CITI marks which include among others, Citibank, Citicard, Citicorp, citidirect, citi financial, citigroup, citiphone, citiservice, cititreasury, talk of the citi and citigold.

But CitisecOnline pointed out that the Securities and Exchange Commission has approved their corporate name, as well as that of Citisecurities Inc.

It also stressed that there are more than 350 duly registered corporations with the SEC bearing corporate names beginning with the mark Citi, more than half of which use Citi conjoined together with other words just like Citigroup and Citibank.

"Some of these corporate names are identical to plaintiff’s marks and/or engaged in the same businesses as plaintiffs," CitisecOnline said.

CitisecOnline argued that it is engaged solely on the stockbrokerage business while the Citibank group is not engaged solely in the same business. "The position of the corporation is that CitisecOnline, Citisec and Citisecurities are not identical nor confusingly deceptively similar to Citigroup’s registered marks.

The corporation will be responding to plaintiffs’ complaint accordingly," said CitisecOnline.

In its complaint, the Citibank group has sought to restrain CitisecOnline and Citisecurities from further using any other trademark bearing Citi in pursuit of their respective businesses.

The Citibank group also seeks to hold respondents liable for consequential damages in the amount of P17 million (actual damages in the amount of P8 million, exemplary damages in the amount of P5 million, attorney’s fees in the amount of P3.975 million.

CitisecOnline hopes to raise nearly P150 million from the maiden offering of its shares to the public. It offered a total of 110 million primary shares at P1.36 each share.

The shares will be listed at the exchange on July 12.

Proceeds from the offering will be used to fund projects intended to expand market reach and the online brokerage house’s customer base, as well as programs aimed at retaining customers.

CitisecOnline started commercial operations in 2001, and is primarily engaged in stock brokerage services, including trading through the Internet.

CitisecOnline aims to be the leading online financial services provider in Asia, giving customers access to global markets and products.

It expects its online stock trading business to double this year, given the continued improvement in the government’s fiscal position and the strong dollar remittances from overseas filipino workers.

CitisecOnline hopes to take advantage of the growing internet market to encourage retail investors to trade online.