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Ping Golf Applying for New Top Level Domain?
Companies, brands and private individuals across the globe are preparing their applications for a New TLD, which they will be able to submit to ICANN from January 2012. A tactic employed by many is to register a trademark on their chosen New TLD to give weight to their application when the time comes, although ICANN have stated that this does not mean guaranteed acceptance, and the US Patent and Trademark Office are largely disallowing them.
The latest company to get in on the game is Ping Golf. The company behind the brand, Karsten Manufacturing Corp, is perhaps considering going for .ping when the application window opens next year, and have filed a matching trademark application for “.ping” and “ping” stating the use as “Domain Name Registration Services”.
The company currently operates on the ping.com domain name, which is lucky enough to rank first in Google when you search for either “ping” or “ping golf”.
Karsten recently lost a UDRP for the name ping.me and it seems they are keen to avoid such retrospective action in the future by getting in early with the intention of protecting their brand.
The company have not yet made any comment about whether they will or will not use the Trademark application in support of an actual New TLD application, and it could well be that they are simply making it more difficult for anyone else planning to apply for .ping, even if the applicants don’t plan to use it for anything related to golf.
There are a few companies that spring to mind straight away. The first is Apple, who have named their music social network Ping, which allows you to follow your favourite artists and friends to discover the music they’re listening to and downloading. The other is Ping.fm, a service that allows you to send one update which will post to all of your social media accounts. A simply search for “ping social” in Google reveals a whole host of companies that would potentially be interested in the extension.
Other trademarks that have been registered relating to domain registration services include .club .discount and a little stranger, .fish. It’s unlikely these Trademark applications will actually be approved, but it certainly hasn’t stopped people from trying!