2 multi-billion-dollar Mellon foundations in legal fight over name

Pittsburgh-based Richard King Mellon Foundation this week filed a federal lawsuit against the New York-based Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The trademark infringement complaint alleges that the Andrew Mellon foundation’s decision in March to change its name to just “The Mellon Foundation” will cause confusion for the public.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction to stop the name change.

Andrew Mellon was the son of Thomas Mellon. Richard King Mellon was Andrew Mellon’s nephew.

The Richard King Mellon Foundation was founded in 1947 and is the largest foundation in Southwestern Pennsylvania and one of the 50 largest in the world, the lawsuit said. At the end of 2021, it had net assets of $3.4 billion and disbursed grants and investments totaling $152 million.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation was founded in 1969 through the consolidation of two existing organizations — the Avalon Foundation and the Old Dominion Foundation, which were founded by Andrew Mellon’s children, according to the group’s website.

Its total endowment at the end of 2020 was $8.2 billion, the website said, and had awarded $417 million in annual grants.

According to a March 28 news release, the Andrew Mellon Foundation announced it was changing its logo and its name. In the release, the organization said it had spent months contemplating its new visual identity and platform.

“The new brand identity you see now — on our website, in our communications, and everywhere that bears the Mellon Foundation imprimatur — reflects an intensive and at times even provocative creative collaboration,” the organization said.

Then on May 10, the complaint said, the Andrew Mellon foundation applied for a trademark for “Mellon Foundation,” as well as for the same name with a stylized M in front of it. Both trademarks cover “charitable and philanthropic services, names making grants to support and promote higher education, the humanities, arts and culture, equitable access to knowledge and social justice,” the lawsuit said.

The Richard King Mellon Foundation, which holds a trademark for its own name, alleges that the Andrew Mellon foundation is promoting itself as if it were “the only genuine foundation with ‘Mellon’ in its name,” the lawsuit said.

Further, it claims that the move of the Andrew Mellon foundation to shorten its name will make the public question whether it is the only Mellon Foundation; whether the Richard Mellon Foundation is approved by the Andrew Mellon foundation; and whether the Richard Mellon Foundation is illegitimate.

The plaintiff alleges that the trademark infringement threatens the good will it has worked to build over 75 years.

Tim Reeves, a spokesman for Richard King Mellon Foundation, said he had no comment.

“We’re letting the document speak for itself,” he said.

Tonya Bell, a spokeswoman for the Andrew Mellon foundation, said she did not wish to comment on the lawsuit.

University of Pittsburgh law professor Michael Madison specializes in trademark and copyright law.

Madison said that to win its claim, Richard King Mellon Foundation needs to be able to prove confusion. He thinks that will be a hard fight to win.

“In what sense is the RK Mellon Foundation competing with Andrew Mellon foundation? Are they in the same market?” he asked. “These are two foundations often playing in different spaces that define their own grant-making scope.”

According to its website, the Andrew Mellon foundation “is a problem-solving foundation looking to address historical inequities in the fields we fund—the humanities, the arts, and higher education.”

It has issued 143 grants, totaling more than $10 million in Southwestern Pennsylvania, including 114 in the Pittsburgh area, the lawsuit said.

The Richard King Mellon Foundation, which touts on its website a regional focus with a national impact, provides funding for economic development and mobility; health and well-being and conservation.

Madison said that the Andrew Mellon foundation is powerfully associated with New York, while the Richard King Mellon Foundation is powerfully associated with Pittsburgh.

“At the end of the day, just because the names are similar doesn’t mean much,” he said. “You have to show confusion.”

Madison said that the philanthropic world in which that both foundations play a part include sophisticated people, who are not likely to be confused by the different names.

“The weight of the claim relies on pulling together some evidence or data that a community of people would make that leap,” he said.

He suspects that both foundations are doing strategic planning and branding, which is why Andrew Mellon foundation changed its name, and why Richard King Mellon Foundation is upset about it, Madison said.

“They want to play at the big kids’ table — and the big kids’ table is in New York and Chicago,” Madison said. “The philanthropy world is a very quirky place — status and roles and rivalries.”

He suspects there is a deal waiting to happen.

“Maybe this lawsuit is the product of Richard King Mellon trying to get the attention of Andrew Mellon and failing,” Madison said. “They just have to get off their high horses to see how embarrassing it is for their philanthropic partners for this to make its way through the federal court system.

“This is like airing the family laundry. Who loves who? Who’s been harboring grudges for decades?”

Correction: In an earlier version of this story, the relationship between Andrew W. Mellon and Richard King Mellon was misstated. Andrew Mellow was Richard King Mellon’s uncle.