Elevate, Elevations Credit Unions Won’t Confuse, 10th Cir. Says

“Elevate” and “Elevations” credit union rebrands won’t confuse consumers in distinct markets who generally take care in choosing a bank, the Tenth Circuit affirmed.

Colorado-based Elevations Credit Union and the much smaller Elevate Federal Credit Union in northern Utah have almost no market overlap, the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit wrote in a Wednesday opinion. The differences between the marks, along with a shortage of evidence of actual confusion or Elevate’s intent to infringe, justified a lower court’s finding, it said.

The precedential opinion said the differing eligibility requirements for members combined with the distinct geographic ...