Litigation

Annuity FYI is a website, owned by a Florida Company that is currently using the trademarked logos of the major life insurance companies that issue (or have issued) structured annuities to market secondary market offerings.

http://www.annuityfyi.com/compare-secondary-market-immediate-annuities.html

Annuity FYI is owned by Burgess Wever, LLC a Florida domiciled company which lists Geoffrey Hoefer as managing member in its regulatory filings.  While Burgess Wever is listed as registered to do business in Florida, neither Burgess Wever, nor Hoefer are listed as being licensed for insurance in the State of Florida.

Disclaimers on the website state that the use of the logos is not intended to imply that the owners of the trademarked logos have endorsed or sponsored the secondary market offerings. Yet the propriety of this behavior still comes up in my mind. How about yours? Clearly the logo is designed to capitalize on the goodwill and brand recognition of the life insurer to sell a product or service that those companies may not be engaging in.

This author has written to each of the annuity issuers listed on the aforementioned page and asked them for comment.