Josh Jalinski, a Toms River, N.J., financial advisor, is trying to protect his quarterback.
More precisely, he is suing other advisors who try to use the term Financial Quarterback, which he trademarked in 2010.
Jalinski, the founder of Jalinski Advisory Group, markets himself as the Financial Quarterback and has a radio show under that name. But others in the profession also use the phrase, which leads to the lawsuits to protect the name, Jalinski said.
Jalinski and his lawyer, Maurice Ross in New York City, have sent more than 100 letters to advisors and firms asking them to stop using the designation. Most have complied, but some have not.
Fourteen suits have been filed so far and five of those have been settled, Ross said.
“Unfortunately, there have been some substantial violations of my client’s trademark, but our claims are strong,” Ross said in an interview Monday shortly after returning from a settlement hearing on one of the cases. “Josh’s business has grown in part because he is building his brand.”
“As my business was growing, I saw more and more copycats,” Jalinski said. “They would say it is a generic term.”
But it is intellectual property and it is protected, they both emphasized. Jalinski and Ross also said Jalinski is not a litigious person, nor is he hoping to make money on the settlements.
The most recent suit was filed in Detroit July 24 against The Hamo Group, a Wells Fargo advisor in Flint, Mich. Joseph Hamo, owner of the single-practitioner private client office, did not return phone calls for comment.