AXA Equitable Blocked From Name Change to ‘Equitable Financial’

AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co. was preliminarily blocked from changing its name to “Equitable Financial” based on another insurance company’s “Equitable” trademark.

AXA Equitable’s name change would likely cause confusion with Equitable Life & Casualty Insurance Co., a Utah federal court said Tuesday.

AXA Equitable was founded in 1859 as “The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States,” and was commonly known as “The Equitable” until 2004, when its parent company AXA S.A. renamed it “AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co.” AXA S.A. sold most of its interest in the company in 2017 and rescinded AXA Equitable’s license to use ...