Judge grants injunction in Commerce Bank case
Commerce Bank & Trust Co. of Worcester was granted an injunction today that will prevent the parent of TD Banknorth Inc. from using its new name "TD Commerce Bank'' at least in parts of Massachusetts, said an attorney involved in the case.
In theory, the lawsuit has the potential to influence a name change of TD Banknorth Garden, the Boston arena where the Bruins and the Celtics play their home games.
At a hearing this morning in Worcester, a federal judge allowed a motion seeking an injunction by the Worcester bank, said its attorney David Rich, who argued the new name for TD Banknorth branches following its merger with a New Jersey bank would confuse customers.
The judge scheduled a further hearing next week to discuss exactly what the geographic scope of the injunction would be, Rich said.
But as a practical matter, he added, the judge said the restriction could also limit TD Banknorth's ability to put the new name on TD Banknorth Garden.
A spokesman for TD Banknorth said he couldn't immediately comment. The bank previously had said it was still studying what name it might put on the arena under the terms of a $6 million annual sponsorship agreement.
In April TD Banknorth parent Toronto-Dominion Bank closed on its $8.5 billion purchase of Commerce Bancorp Inc. of New Jersey. It had planned to switch the names of Commerce branches in mid-Atlantic states first later this year, then to change the names on TD Banknorth branches in New England states starting in 2009.
In all the combined company will have 1,100 US branches, 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.
(By Ross Kerber, Globe staff)
