Och-Ziff Capital Management Group won a lawsuit against a London investment adviser and its founder to block the use of the Och name.
OCH Capital and Thomas Ochocki infringed on the Och-Ziff trademark, Judge Richard Arnold in London ruled Oct. 20. Och-Ziff's European unit sued the London firm last year and asked the court to stop the firm from using the first portion of its name.
Och-Ziff has more than $26 billion in assets under management for about 600 investors.
OCH Capital began operating in September 2009, according to the judgment. Och-Ziff learned of the firm when an interior designer who works for the hedge fund saw the OCH Capital sign on a building in the Mayfair neighborhood of London and assumed it was Och-Ziff. Two other men, an art consultant and an investment banker, also confused the two, according to testimony.
“OCH is strongly distinctive for financial services,” Mr. Arnold said in the judgment. “There is a manifest likelihood of confusion on the part of both types of consumer.”
Damages in the case will be set at a later hearing.
Mr. Ochocki had no immediate comment on the judgment. Jonathan Gasthalter, a spokesman for New York-based Och-Ziff, declined to comment.
