A Loomis Fund is No Longer “Absolute”

Loomis Sayles is making a hasty name change to one of its funds after losing out on a federal lawsuit.

Specifically, on Sept. 28, the Loomis Sayles Absolute Strategies (LABAX) will be renamed the Loomis Sayles Strategic Alpha Fund after a lawsuit was filed by Massachusetts-based Absolute Investment Advisers, which has its own mutual fund that it calls the Absolute Strategies Fund, Morningstar reports.

According to the report, Absolute Investment had trademarked the Absolute Strategies Fund name for a mutual fund that it subsequently hired Loomis Sayles to subadvise. After Loomis Sayles launched its own Loomis Sayles Absolute Strategies Fund in late 2010, Absolute Investment Advisers sought to block Loomis' use of that phrase in the fund's name. Loomis subsequently countered before patent and trademark officials that the name was generic, and submitted paperwork seeking to cancel Absolute's trademark.

As a result of the Aug. 20 settlement, Loomis Sayles is also dropping its efforts to cancel Absolute's trademark.