Sporting events and playgrounds aren't the only times and places where people fight for control of a ball.

Two banking giants -- PNC Financial Services Group and ING Bank -- are locked in a courtroom battle for the exclusive right to use the "orange ball" symbol as an advertising trademark.

ING Bank, which owns the orange ball trademark, has sued PNC for using the "Orange Ball Design Mark," on an Internet Web site targeting younger audiences. ING is seeking damages of greater than three times the amount that PNC has made using the orange ball logo, including interest.

PNC last month unveiled an online banking program called "Virtual Wallet," geared to attract younger customers to the bank. The Web site makes use of the color orange and orange balls similar to ING's to showcase its products.

In the suit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, ING alleges that its orange ball design is federally registered and famous, and that PNC's use of the orange balls on its Web site could confuse customers "as to the source and origin of PNC's products and services ... and falsely suggest a connection" with ING.

PNC spokesman Fred Solomon had no comment on the lawsuit, except to say PNC believed that its trademarks were valid and enforceable.

PNC filed trademark applications in June for the ball designs used on the Virtual Wallet Web site. ING, however, argues that its use of the orange ball design far precedes PNC's use of it.

"ING Direct has used that ball as a symbol since our inception," said Cathy MacFarlane, an ING spokeswoman in Wilmington, Del. "We firmly believe customers identify and connect the orange ball with the value ING Direct brings to them."