District Court Denies Motion To Exclude Reinsurance Expert Testimony In Trademark Infringement Case
In this trademark infringement case, a federal judge denied the defendants’ motion to exclude the proposed testimony of the plaintiffs’ two expert witnesses – a linguist and an insurance executive. The plaintiff, Alfa Corporation, is a financial services company based in Alabama that operates throughout the United States. The defendants, Alfa Bank and Alfa Capital Markets are components of a Russia-based financial services group. Plaintiffs alleged that the defendants’ use of the name Alfa Bank would harm its business and was likely to cause confusion, mistake, or deception of the trade and public.
The insurance expert’s testimony concerned the operation of the insurance and reinsurance industry. Defendants argued that: (1) the expert, Mr. Sweitzer, was not qualified to offer an opinion with regard to two of topics covered in his report; (2) that his opinions are not sufficiently supported; (3) that he did not adequately apply his opinions to the facts of the case; and (4) that his opinions on reinsurance were not relevant to the issues presented in the case. The court disagreed and denied defendants’ motion to exclude the testimony. Alfa Corp. v. OAO Alfa Bank and Alfa Capital Markets, Case No. 04-8968 (S.D.N.Y., Feb. 21, 2007).
