• EPNN.com, Thursday, February 7, 2008 11 AM

A federal appeals court has ruled that American Express has the legal right to use its "My life. My card" tagline, rejecting a plea by one Stephen Goetz, who says he proposed the slogan to the company years ago. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit holds that Amex did not infringe on the rights of Goetz, who mailed a proposal to the company in July 2004 that included the slogan: "My Life, My Card" American Express delivers personalized cards to its cardholders!"

At that time, Goetz was working as a consultant for a company called Mez Design and his idea included the concept of letting customers personalize a card by choosing the picture to be printed on it. But the panel notes that Ogilvy Group proposed the "My Life. My Card" tag to Amex the same month and began a preliminary trademark search for the expression.

Goetz registered for a patent in September 2004, two months before Amex used it in public. The company did not respond to Goetz's proposal, but still asked a U.S. District judge for a declaratory judgment that it had not misappropriated the slogan and that Goetz could not make a claim for infringement.

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