Federal Judge Rules on LaSalle Bank Motion

Judge Bucklo denies LaSalle Bank's motion to dismiss and orders LaSalle to pay plaintiff's legal fees.

Chicago, IL,   In a classic David vs. Goliath trademark infringement case, Judge Elaine Bucklo, Federal Judge for the Northern District of Illinois, issued her first ruling in the trademark infringement case #05-02419, Cobra Capital LLC vs. LaSalle Bank Corporation, LaSalle Bank , N.A., and LaSalle National Leasing Corporation.  Judge Bucklo denied LaSalle Bank's motion to dismiss stating, “Defendant has wasted this court's time and plaintiff's counsel's time”, and ordered LaSalle to pay Cobra Capital's attorney's fees. The Judge placed the case on a fast track by setting a June 30, 2006 discovery deadline and a September 11, 2006 9:30am trial date. 

The trademark lawsuit was filed by Cobra Capital, a small Oak Brook based, finance and equipment leasing company which competes in similar markets as LaSalle and its affiliates. The lawsuit alleges that LaSalle infringed on Cobra Capital's registered trademark, “Making impossible possible” when LaSalle unleashed it's nearly identical new global tagline, “Making more possible” on February 28, 2005.  The lawsuit includes emails from ABN LaSalle's CEO Norman Bobins and ABN AMRO's legal counsel Timothy Kaiser sent to Cobra Capital two years prior to the release of LaSalle's new global tagline. The emails state LaSalle's allegations of confusing similarity between the two company's as well as Norman Bobins interest in providing financial services to a DeNovo Community Bank which Cobra Capital was planning on opening in the Chicago land area.

Cobra Capital's trademark was awarded to its founder, Dale R. Kluga by the Unites States Patent and Trademark Office, almost two years before LaSalle unleashed its new global tagline.  The complaint filed by Cobra Capital references the renowned 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Sands Taylor vs. Gatorade decision which was the largest trademark award in history at the time. The court ruled against Gatorade for its unauthorized use of the term “Gatorade is Thirst Aid”.

Kluga and his partner, Dexter Tong, are both former ABN LaSalle employees as Kluga was Senior Vice President and founder of LaSalle Bank's leasing company before leaving to start his first finance company 9 years earlier in 1996. Tong was formerly Senior Vice President and Assistant Treasurer of ABN AMRO, Inc. until 2001 when he received his final equity payout from ABN AMRO's acquisition of The Chicago Corporation. www.cobrallc.com

Copy of court judgement: http://leasingnews.org/PDF/Courts_Order_to_Dismiss.pdf