Litigation over names settled between BancWest, BankWest of Nevada

Grace Leong

Friday, Sept. 15, 2000 | 11:12 a.m.

BancWest Corp., which is entering the Las Vegas market with its Bank of the West subsidiary, says customers likely won't get its name confused with longtime Las Vegas community bank BankWest of Nevada.

But the similarity in the names of the banks was the subject of a lawsuit Bank of the West filed in 1997 accusing BankWest of Nevada of infringing on Bank of the West's trademarked name and logo.

Bank of the West claimed it had operated under the "Bank of the West" name at least as early as January 1979 and that in May 1994 BankWest of Nevada started using the words "BankWest" and "BankWest of Nevada" to identify the source of its banking services.

Michael Rounds, Bank of the West's attorney, said the lawsuit was primarily a dispute over the way BankWest of Nevada used and referred to the "BankWest" name in commerce. "BankWest of Nevada workers were answering the phone saying just 'BankWest' and the name 'BankWest' alone appeared on signs," he said.

A settlement reached Feb. 22, 1999, required BankWest of Nevada to pay Bank of the West $25,000. Bank of the West also agreed not to sue the Las Vegas-based bank again if it used "BankWest of Nevada" or "BankWest Nevada Corp." as opposed to just "BankWest" alone to identify its banking services.

However, BankWest's use of these names is limited to Clark and Nye counties.

BankWest of Nevada also agreed to file a request for withdrawal of the mark "Bankwest of Nevada and Design" with the U.S. patent and trademark office.

BankWest had asked that the trademark infringement suit be dismissed in 1998, saying each company's logo was dissimilar and that the service mark doesn't apply to the words "bank" and "west."

But Bank of the West filed oppositions to the request, saying the names and the proximity of Nevada to California could cause confusion. Bank of the West is a big player in the California banking industry.

Larry Woodrum, president of BankWest of Nevada, welcomed Bank of the West into the Las Vegas market.

"It's better they have an office here so people know there is a difference between the two banks. Their logo is a bear and our logo is the state of Nevada ... having a Bank of the West here will designate there are two different banks."

Don McGrath, president and chief executive officer of Bank of the West, said he doesn't expect any confusion among consumers differentiating his bank with BankWest of Nevada.

"We will operate as Bank of the West and not as BancWest and both companies have very distinctive identities," McGrath said. "We have a very distinctive bear trademark and they have a very distinctive logo with the outline of the state of Nevada incorporated in their signs."

Meanwhile, BankWest of Nevada, which currently has three offices in the Las Vegas area, said it recently opened a temporary modular building in Henderson, at the site of its fourth office, to serve businesses in the southeast area until the new office is completed. This office, at 10196 S. Eastern Ave., will have up to eight workers.

BankWest of Nevada is also building a fifth office at Flamingo Road and Durango Drive. This office is scheduled to open around April 2001 and will hire seven employees.

Grace Leong

is a business writer for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-2326 or by e-mail at gracel@lasvegassun.com.