A statement of policy regarding tdgold.com

[Kuffy]

I'm not sure if this is the correct board for this thread, please move it if it is in the wrong place.

I've just registered tdgold.com, and after some research, I realise that there are some potential problems with this name. I would like to register a public statement with regard to my reason for registering the name, and my proposed use.

I have no association with any bank, credit card organisation, or travel insurer, other than that of a standard customer.

I have registered the name for my personal use, and not to resell to any person or organisation.

I registered the name to expand my new interest and investment in gold and silver bullion and coins.

The "TD" initials are intended to stand for "Trading Desk", which is a generic term used by bullion dealers to refer to their trading pages and services. My use is not intended to be specific to any one service or group of services.

Please feel free to comment in this thread. I have had a lot of trouble in mt quest for a nice short gold .com name, and this is the best generic name that I have found so far.

 

[owntype]

You're worrying too much

 

[Kuffy]

I'm not really worried - I just wanted to cover myself in case someone decides to have a go.

I've seen a lot of posts where domainers suggest that posting here can be used as evidence of a registration in bad faith. I thought I would make a post to indicate that I didn't register in bad faith.

Maybe it would be useful to have a thread or even a board for posts like this.

 

[Kate]

Please feel free to comment in this thread. I have had a lot of trouble in mt quest for a nice short gold .com name, and this is the best generic name that I have found so far.

But this name is not generic, it's a made-up one. You shouldn't be posting this here imo. The fact that you do confirms that you are aware of possible confusion and TM issues. You cannot even plead ignorance now.
I'd rather put a placeholder on your domain showing your intended use and full brand form ie Trading Desk.

Of course, there is always a remote possibility that somebody will challenge your reg down the road.
I'm not saying you must not pursue your plan. But I am not sure it is a good idea, if you see a possible conflict why insist ?
Good names should not pose obvious (or less obvious) TM issues. You already know you are starting off with a weak brand. Are you sure this is the best name you could get for your purpose ?
In Canada, if you say TD everybody immediately thinks about the bank. It's not a random LL but a very well-known acronym.

Of course, there is overlap between investment and banking and this is precisely why your intended use can be problematic. In another industry the domain would be much less questionable.
Personally I would have tried a different name.
Disclaim: not qualified legal advice.

 

[Ategy]

I don't really see how this will help you at all .. as actually your intended use is in "Trading" a commodity, something the TD Bank already does and thus is likely covered by their trademark .. particularly if they use the word "Gold" somewhere (Gold Credit Card more than likely).

You intended use will actually compete with their TM .. if your intended use was something like TouchDownGold, where you discuss great (gold standard) football touchdowns, then there would be now problem at all.

I'm pretty sure TD operates in the USA so they likely have international trademarks.

I'm not a TM lawyer though .. but I'm thinking you could likely get a better domain for less than what it would cost you to check this domain with a TM lawyer .. so if I were you I'd just drop the domain and find something else!

 

[Kuffy]

Well I did check the Wipo site, and there doesn't appear to be a trademark relating to gold trading. In fact, it isn't my intention to trade in gold regularly, I just want to invest in it. I think the best use for me is to use it as a gold stacker's blog, and use the stacker gold name I picked up to discuss the gold itself.

The problem with trademarks is that virtually everything has some sort of trademark - windows and apple are obvious examples, so you get to the situation where you more of less have to accept that there may be issues. As I see it, the big issues are passing off, and trying to gain revenue from direct navigation that is aimed at a site that has a related name. There appear to be several hundred logos for "TD", so I probably won't use that in a logo on its own. There is also a site called "The Trading Desk", and TD (dot) gold is yet another site. The water is so muddy, that unless I do something stupid, I think I am unlikely to have an issue.

If any company objects to my use of the name, then they are welcome to m