Unsure about ownership issues

[Collector25]

Hi all,

one week ago I managed to successfully back order a very popular .net domain. I checked it on the trademark database and it had a trademark which expired in 2002.

I received an email today out of the blue from somebody who has recently purchased the .com domain (also extremely well established) he must have purchased it directly from the previous owner as it wasn't due to expire for four months. The name is fairly unique and I planned to build a new website for it.

the company he purchased it from (to the best of my knowledge) was not the original owner of the website.

Anyway to cut a long story short he is threatening legal action if we don't return his "property".

As I am still fairly new to the game I was wondering if anyone has any opinions on where I stand.

Cheers

[rfgdxm1]

You really should see a trademark attorney. IANAL, but so long as you don't have a website up on that domain, there isn't much of a case for trademark infringement. It is possible, and not uncommon, for a specific word to be used as a trademark by different companies in unrelated industries. For example, try and open a restaurant called "McDonald's" and the hamburger company will sue you. However, if Joe McDonald opens a hardware store and calls it "McDonald's Hardware Supplies" that likely isn't infringement, as this is a completely different area of business.

[chicagohh]

... also not an attorney, but a lot of these cases are won just because the defendent is afraid of being sued and/or does not want to spend the money.

I would tell him to cram it - or take it to arbitration. If you do consult an attorney, make sure you are working with council that has experience with internet cases.

Don't just ignore this person. If he takes you to arbitration and you don't play along you will just about automatically lose.

[Collector25]

Thanks for the heads-up guys!

I will look further into the matter as you have suggested and see how we go!

Thanks again