<p>WASHINGTON – Gold Banc Corp., the bank holding company suing CUNA over alleged trademark infringement, has subpoenaed 103 credit unions and 14 credit union organizations in its case. The subpoenas require that the credit unions and organizations produce voluminous records of when and how they have used the CUNA trademarked phrase "where people are worth more than money." Gold Banc Corp. has alleged that phrase infringes on its protected phrase "more than money." According to Eric Richard, CUNA's General Counsel, most of the 103 credit unions, spread over Florida, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma will find out about their subpoena in a packet of information from CUNA this week. The packet will contain the subpoena, which had been delivered to CUNA, a letter from CUNA's outside counsel handling the case and a letter from Richard offering the representation of CUNA's outside counsel in fulfilling the subpoena. Credit unions and organizations that take CUNA up on the offer will have to return a form designating CUNA as their legal representative in the case. "We didn't want any of the credit unions who have been using the phrase to have to face the burden of legal costs in the fulfilling the subpoenas," Richard said. "Once the credit unions and organizations have designated us as their legal representative we can begin to negotiate on their behalf," he said. It's still not clear how much information each credit union will have to provide. The credit unions and credit union organizations served with the subpoena range from the giant CUNA Mutual to a tiny Kansas credit union with only 167 members. CUNA is withholding the name of the credit union until they have a chance to receive and respond to the packet. The smallest bank in Gold Banc Corp. has $590 million in assets, CUNA said. Richard would not speculate on whether other bank holding companies or the American Bankers Association might be funding the suit, but acknowledged that Gold Banc Corp. appeared to be spending heavily on its legal effort. Gold Bank Corp. had an application for protection of its phrase pending when CUNA filed for trademark protection of "where people are worth more than money," Richard said. Richard stressed that CUNA urges credit unions and credit union organizations using the phrase to continue doing so and to not be scared away from using it by the lawsuit. "We don't want Gold Banc to win by default," he added.</p>

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