SVB Financial Trust is suing Silicon Valley Bank acquirer First Citizens Bancshares for its continued use of SVB trademarks, which it allegedly did not inherit when it acquired the bank.

SVB Financial Trust, the successor to Silicon Valley Bank parent company SVB Financial Group, alleged in California court Wednesday that First Citizens has been wrongfully using the SVB name, logo, domain name and “Make Next Happen Now” tagline since acquiring the collapsed bank in March 2023.

Such assets were never owned by the bank but rather by its parent company, SVB Financial Trust alleged.

“First Citizens Bank’s use of the Marks and the Domain is not incidental or accidental,” SVB Financial Trust wrote. “In many such circumstances, the acquiring bank has no incentive to continue using a failed bank’s brand because consumers view the brand negatively.”

One of First Citizens’ motivating factors in the acquisition, though, was its “desire to grow its California presence,” which made acquiring the brand “an important part of that transaction.”

Without actually acquiring the assets, First Citizens simply used them, SVB Financial Trust alleged.

First Citizens denies SVB Financial Trust’s claims.

“Contrary to the allegations in the lawsuit filed today, SVB Financial Trust does not own the SVB brand assets, including the trademarks and domain name,” a spokesperson said in an email. “First Citizens acquired those assets from the FDIC in March 2023.”

The bank intends to defend its ownership of the assets in litigation.

According to the lawsuit, due to First Citizens’ wrongful use of the svb.com domain, SVB Financial Group was forced to create stand-alone domains for itself and its other subsidiaries.

“Although SVB Financial Trust could shut down svb.com at any time, as the rightful owner of the domain name, it has not done so in an effort to maintain an open line of communication between First Citizens Bank in an effort to facilitate a lawful purchase or license of the Domain,” according to the lawsuit.

An attorney for SVB Financial Trust did not return a request for comment.

Separately, SVB Financial Trust is suing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to recover $1.93 billion in deposits, which it alleged were seized illegally.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman ruled that the FDIC must face the lawsuit after SVB Financial Trust adequately alleged that the agency maintained control over those deposits.

The allegations, however, were “vanishingly thin,” Freeman wrote, according to Reuters.