Get ready for a joust.
A Chicago-based financial firm is suing an Egyptian company it says infringed on its name and logo.
The image under siege? A castle.
The dispute is between Citadel Investment Group, an international investment company with an $11 billion portfolio, and Citadel Capital, a Cairo-based private equity group that claims to have $8.3 billion worth of its own investments spread around the Middle East. Both firms' logos feature their names placed next to a turret (think of the towers where castle guards would perch to keep watch. Or just visit Wikipedia).
Citadel Investment Group was founded in 1990, while Citadel Capital group got its start in 2004. The American firm, represented by a team from Greenberg Traurig, claims that in March 2008, it began asking the Egyptian group not to use the Citadel name or logo in the United States.
"Notwithstanding those demands, Citadel Capital in 2009 has sponsored financial industry conferences held in the U.S., and has sent high ranking executives and officers to attend those events," says its complaint, filed at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The Chicagoans are now throwing down the gauntlet, suing for trademark infringement and cybersquatting (the Egyptian firm's URL is www.citadelcapital.com). They have asked U.S. District Judge John Bates to enjoin Citadel Capital from using its name or logo in the U.S., and to block all U.S. access to its Web site. It is also asking for a minimum of $100,000 in damages.
The word citadel refers to the fortresses that once protected Midieval cities, and which were often incorporated as parts of castles. In Cairo, the citadel first built by the 12th century Abbasid ruler Saladin is a major tourist attraction, known for its domed mosque that rises into the city's skyline.
The name seems to have something of a fan club in the financial services world. Among the other companies that have adopted it: Citadel Investment Services of South Africa (which uses the turret logo above the "T" in citadel) and Citadel Investments, a mortgage broker in New York.
Citadel Investment Group declined to comment for this post. Citadel Capital has not responded to an e-mail requesting comment.
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