Considers .Ping Top Level Domain Name — Ping Golf

Firm behind Ping golf brand applies for .ping trademark, but it might be just a defensive play.

Firms continue to file trademark applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office despite ICANN saying it will give no weight to .TLD trademarks (and the USPTO not permitting such trademarks).

One of the latest may be a .brand play, with Karsten Manufacturing Corp., otherwise known as PING Golf, filing an application for .ping and “ping” for “Domain name registration services”. The firm has had challenges getting ping.tld domains in the past, counting losing a UDRP for ping.me. It’s possible that they just want to be a step ahead of anyone who considers applying for .ping for something other than golf — a distinct possibility.

Here are some other recent trademark applications related to fresh top level domain names:

What Box? Holdings, LLC applied for .life and .online. The firm has by now applied for .wedding, .club, .discount, .Hawaii, .Foundation, .Fish, and .Charter. Based on the whois records of related domain registrations it appears that Erik Ludwick of Pacific Palisades, California is behind this mystery firm.

Dot Registry, LLC of Overland Park, Kansas applied for “Dot LLC” and “Dot Inc”. The firm has a web site, but this description of the firm from its site doesn’t make much sense to me:

Dot Registry talent is our firm strength that doesn’t appear on our balance sheet, but remains a foundation of our solid business enterprise. Dot Registry has the recruited and staffed expertise in-house to make locating the right people to grow the dot registry simple and cost effective. Our high-performance team includes talent in the following areas:

AUTOmotix applied for “Dot Auto”. Given their firm background they might plan to bid for a .auto top level domain.