Truity, TruEnergy: Here’s how Charlotte’s new big bank is defending suit over name

No one has a monopoly on “Tru,” according to the new bank calling itself Truist.

Truist, the name of the newly combined BB&T and SunTrust, said in a Wednesday court filing that consumers are highly unlikely to confuse the bank with Truliant Federal Credit Union, which is suing Truist for trademark infringement.

Dozens of other banks, credit unions and other companies use “Tru,” Truist lawyers wrote in a response to the credit union’s lawsuit, giving the examples of TruGrocer Federal Credit Union, TruEnergy Federal Credit Union and Truity Federal Credit Union. The bank asked the court to dismiss Truliant’s claims and declare that Truist doesn’t infringe on Truliant’s trademark.

“We profoundly disagree with the merged banks extraordinary counter claims,’’ said Truliant President Todd Hall. “This is a clear and intentional appropriation of Truliant’s name and brand equity by a directly overlapping geographic competitor.’’

Truist doesn’t appear to want to negotiate with the credit union, Hall said, who added that Truliant will move forward “with determination.”

Syllabic Scruples

In the filing, Truist’s lawyers took pains to demonstrate how different the name Truist is from the name Truliant.

“It is a shorter name, consisting of two syllables, and ending in -IST,” the bank’s lawyers argued. Truliant, they said, “has three syllables, pronounced true-LY-ant, and is often depicted with the words “Federal Credit Union.”

In June, Truliant sued BB&T and SunTrust after the two banks announced they would be calling themselves Truist. Truliant, a credit union based in Winston-Salem with 12 branches in the Charlotte area, argued that because Truist would be operating in close proximity to Truliant, it would confuse consumers and undermine trust in the credit union.

Truist, which as of the merger’s close earlier this month is the sixth-largest bank in the U.S. by assets and deposits, argued that its name is “distinctive and memorable” and that the name’s roll-out linked the name to its predecessor banks.

When BB&T and SunTrust unveiled their new combined name, chosen out of thousands the bank considered, it was widely mocked on social media. Undeterred, the bank trudged forward with it and plans to put the name on the tower in uptown Charlotte that will serve as the new bank’s headquarters.

A logo to go with the name will be unveiled early next year. Truist said in the Wednesday filing that the logo, while not publicly revealed, the logo is “highly distinctive and original.” Social media may have a different opinion.

This story was originally published December 18, 2019 at 3:23 PM.