Focus Sues Former Advisors Over Mosaic Name Dispute

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Focus Financial Partners is suing a squad that near the steadfast to affiliate done Mariner’s Independent platform, claiming their caller moniker infringes connected a trademarked sanction of a Focus subsidiary, with Focus claiming the “likelihood of confusion” is “overwhelming.”

Late past month, Mariner Independent onboarded three erstwhile Focus advisors: John Buckingham, Jason Clark and Christopher Quigley, and launched Mosaic Value Partners, with 3 different employees. The summation was the largest squad added to the Mariner platform.

Before the move, the trio had been with Focus Financial Partners’ Kovitz Investment Group Partners since 2018. Kovitz joined and took connected the Focus Partners Wealth marque earlier this year.

According to Focus Financial’s suit against the caller firm, Focus Partners Wealth besides includes Mosaic Family Wealth Partners, a minority-owned and controlled web steadfast of Focus Financial. Focus claims the Mosaic squad has operated since 2015, and manages astir $1.6 cardinal successful lawsuit assets.

Mariner declined to remark for this story, and the steadfast is not named arsenic a suspect successful the suit. Mosaic Value Partners did not instrumentality a petition for remark anterior to publication.

In the suit, Focus claims that it holds trademarks connected the names Mosaic Family Wealth and Mosaic Family Office, arsenic they pertain to fiscal readying services, with a pending patent for Mosaic Wealth, which it filed successful April 2024, according to a transcript of a presumption update connected the patent application.

Focus claims that during the trio’s employment astatine Focus Partners Wealth, they “had nonstop vulnerability to the Mosaic marque and the services offered nether the Mosaic marks.”

On April 7, Focus claims the trio formed Mosaic Value Partners with the California Secretary of State’s bureau portion inactive moving astatine Focus Partners Wealth, and stopped moving determination connected April 24. 

The aforesaid day, Focus claims they started moving arsenic Mosaic Value Partners, with “widespread” media sum connected April 28, which Focus claims “dramatically compounded” the harm to Focus by “deepening the likelihood of disorder betwixt Defendant’s steadfast and Mosaic’s well-established brand.”

In the suit, Focus claimed that the caller firm’s sanction “appropriates the sole distinctive constituent of (Focus’s) marks, ‘Mosaic,’ and appends lone the generic, non-distinguishing words ‘Value’ and ‘Partners.’”

“The summation of generic oregon descriptive presumption to a protected people does not trim the likelihood of confusion,” the suit read.