Judge referees the battle of the brands
Injunction halts the use of TD Commerce Bank name in at least some Mass. areas
A federal judge yesterday granted Commerce Bank & Trust Co. of Worcester a preliminary injunction preventing the parent of TD Banknorth from using its new name "TD Commerce Bank" - at least in parts of Massachusetts.
TD Banknorth's parent Toronto-Dominion Bank planned to use the new name for its US bank after it bought New Jersey-based Commerce Bancorp Inc. for $8.5 billion in April. But the Worcester bank sued, arguing the new name would confuse customers.
The lawsuit may also determine whether the TD Banknorth Garden, the Boston arena where the Celtics and Bruins play, will have a new name along with the bank. The bank has a $6 million annual sponsorship agreement with the Garden's owner that includes naming rights.
The next step by the judge is to determine where in Massachusetts TD Banknorth's parent would not be allowed to use the new name.
A spokesman for TD Banknorth said executives wouldn't comment. Prior to the judge's decision, bank executives had said they were studying what name they might put on the arena after the merger.
In a statement, Commerce Bank & Trust chairman David G. Massad said the injunction will protect his bank's brand. "We are very satisfied that the court has seen fit to protect our good name and reputation," he said. Printed advertisements had already confused customers, he said.
"I hate to think what could have happened if they actually started changing the signs on their branches," Massad said.
Toronto-Dominion Bank had planned to first switch the names of Commerce branches in mid-Atlantic states this year, and then change the names of TD Banknorth branches in New England states starting in 2009.
In all, the combined bank will have 1,100 branches from Maine to Florida, dwarfing the Worcester bank's 12 branches. But the Worcester bank argues it has a strong claim on the name based on its operations in Massachusetts since 1955.
In Worcester yesterday, Judge F. Dennis Saylor granted the injunction, and set another hearing to discuss in what geographic area the injunction would apply. In court, he said it would be "no greater than Massachusetts."
The question now is whether the ban would include just Commerce Bank & Trust's core market in and around Worcester, or a larger area.
Saylor noted that people in Worcester County read The Boston Globe, watch Boston television stations, and "follow Boston sports teams that play in what's now the TD Banknorth Garden, and it's not clear to me that I could confine it [the geographic restriction] so narrowly," according to a transcript.
If Toronto-Dominion ultimately were to lose its case in court, it would be faced with deciding whether to operate under two different names within its territory.
Ross Kerber can be reached at kerber@globe.com. 