The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has granted a trademark for the term “Green Branch” to PNC Financial Services Group. PNC says it has “more certified, environmentally friendly buildings than any other company on earth.”
The firm has 42 buildings certified by the U.S. Green Building Council including 40 environmentally-friendly bank branches. the PNC Firstside Center in downtown Pittsburgh, and the J. Richard Carnall Center in Wilmington, Del., headquarters of PNC’s mutual fund processing division.
PNC says that a main reason for the federal patent office’s approval of PNC’s trademark application is that financial and banking services are not generally associated with environmentally friendly or ecologically efficient characteristics.