U.S. District Judge Charles Metzner has ruled...
U.S. District Judge Charles Metzner has ruled in favor of MasterCard International Inc., dismissing American Express’ lawsuit over the term “gold card.†The New York judge held that the term is generic and, therefore, not a trademark of American Express. The suit was filed shortly after MasterCard commenced an ad campaign claiming that Gold MasterCard is the world’s No. 1 gold card. The competition in the gold card market has heated up considerably in the past several years since MasterCard launched its Gold MasterCard in 1983. At the end of 1987, there were more than 7 million Gold MasterCard cards outstanding, against 5.5 million for American Express and 6.5 million for Visa.
