I just stumbled on a PDF, and now I have goosebumps all over. Can someone please read the attached PDF and save a brother.
Before I commit over $50k to this domain.
Below is the first two pages of the PDF doc:-
RE:
Use of โBankโ in โDomainBank.comโ
Dear Mr. Puri:
Thank you for your email communication
(hereinafter, โInquiryโ)
, in which you have
requested of the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (hereinafter,
โDFIโ) its
determination as to the propriety of using โBankโ in โDomainBank.com.โ
This matter has been
referred to me for interpretation in my capacity as general legal counsel for the DFI and on
behalf of the Division of Banks.
1.0
Representations
You have represented that your company,
a Delaware corporation doing
business in Washington State (hereinafter,
โCompanyโ), owns a Delaware subsidiary
(hereinafter,
โSubsidiaryโ) organized as a limited liability company (
hereinafter,
โLLCโ). You
have further represented that your Subsidiary is considering buying the assets of a certain
Pennsylvania corporation. According to you, one of those assets under your review is the Internet
domain name: โDomainBank.com.โ
As represented on your Companyโs Web site,
(hereinafter,
โWeb
Siteโ), your Company holds itself
out as a vendor of domain registrations and as a purveyor of
affiliated email accounts, Web hosting services, and associated Web design services. Neither
Washington State Department of Financial Institutions
โ
Division of Ban
ks
DOB Interpretive Letter No. 2005
-
โ Use of โBankโ in โDomainBank.com
โ
Date: April 29
, 2005 โ Page
2
of
6
Pages
your Company nor your Subsidiary
1
is a bank or trust company, or engaged in banking or trust
business in Washington State or any other state or foreign country.
2.0
Question
You have expressly asked whether your Company and its Subsidiary may use the term
โDomainBankโ as a trade
name and/or Internet domain.
3.0
Summary Answer
Because of the importance of the Internet today, this matter is of heightened significance
to the Division of Banks and the general public. Based on your representations in Section 1.0
above, we have concluded from your question [Section 2.0 above] that Washington State law
cle
arly prohibits the use of the term โBankโ by your Company or Subsidiary
[See Section 4.0
be
low] unless authorized by the Director of the DFI or his designee, the Director of the Division
of Banks.
Based upon the nature of your business (as represented in Section 1.0 above) and our
concern for the general public as expressed in Section 4.0 below
, the Division of Banks declines
to authorize any use of the word โBankโ by your Company or Subsidiary in the
conduct of its
present business or any other non-banking or non-mortgage lending activity that would involve
doing
business in Washington State or interaction with Washington State residents. Moreover,
unless your Company or Subsidiary hereafter becomes a national bank or a state-chartered bank,
sa
vings bank, savings and loan association, alien bank authorized to do business in this state, or
qua
lified mortgage lender pursuant to RCW 30.04.020(3), then your Company or Subsidiary
may not use the word โBankโ as any part of its name, trade name
, alter ego or other business
designation, including Internet domain. This includes, without limitation, any use of the term
โBankโ in association with โDomain,โ so as to form the name โDomainBank,โ or the like.
While we cannot officially opine on the laws of other states, we note that there may be
several other states that prohibit the use of the word โBankโ in connection with businesses t
hat
are not engaged in banking, or otherwise require the discretionary permission of their respective
departments of financial institutions prior to use.
2
In any event, if you sought to use
โDomainBankโ
in connection with your Web Site or any other Web site, the DFI would reserve
its plenary authority in such a situation to
