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In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors.
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LA man says he was first to use 21st Century name
Wednesday June 18, 2003
LOS ANGELES (AP) Attorneys for 21st Century Insurance have
filed a lawsuit against a business owner who claims he started
using the same name for his business 13 years ago.
Attorneys for the insurance group that was once known as 20th
Century sued Alfred Bunmi George in January, two months after a
lawyer sent a letter asking him to stop using the name.
On Monday, George filed a counterclaim in federal court, asking
a judge to have 21st Century barred from using the name in Los
Angeles County. George's attorney, Jonathan Stein, said he could
seek as much as $30 million in royalties for the 21st Century name.
George claims he started using the name 21st Century Insurance
and Financial Services for his business in 1990 allegedly nine
years before the insurance giant 20th Century changed its name to
21st Century Insurance Group.
Scott Edelman, who represent the corporation, said the name was
actually registered with the state of California in 1988. The
company also had a trademark on the name, court documents show.
George maintains that he was using the name in Los Angeles
County before the corporation.
``I'm a hardworking black businessman,'' he said. ``If they take
my name they are robbing me of my dignity, reputation and hard
work.''
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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