“We certainly think the industry is better off not spending time on things like this and rather dealing with important issues of the day like helping investors save money. So we also hope this will be resolved amicably.”
Said Graff: “We filed the trademark request in 2016 and fairly quickly CFA Institute raised the objection.” The groups have been working to settle the matter through the U.S. Patent and Trade Office’s administrative tribunal ever since.
Approximately 4,000 advisors have obtained the CPFA designation since the program was launched in 2016.
“Our CPFA program is very specifically designed for advisors who want to work as fiduciaries with 401k plan sponsors and participants, which we think from a policy perspective is an important thing since most Americans save through their 401(k)s,” Graff added.
“We believed we were resolving this matter amicably through the tribunal, and that is still our hope, but we vigorously disagree with the allegation that the CPFA name and program creates any market confusion with the CFA name and program,” Graff said.