Please help me with this domain registration issue!

[scissor22]

Hi everyone,

I registered a .com domain name in feb 2005 and started a forum. I had about 100 members in my forum and in about 4 months i decided to discontinue the website temporarily since i ended up with a job and could not devote time to my website. Its been a while now and i decided to start my website again..... not decided whether i would use the domain again for a forum or a blog, but i was shocked to find that one the member of my forum had recently registered a .net domain which is of my domain name ofcourse and he has already started a forum similar to mine. I am now confused, firstly i should have had registered a .net for the similar domain what i own.... but now since i have'nt done it already will this be a problem for me in the future..... could someone tell me how i could deal with this issue. Is there a need for me to get that domain , as i feel that it might be a problem for my business in the future.

I would really appreciate your help guys.

Thanks,
James

[davezan]

2 options, really:

1. Talk to the other owner. Negotiate to buy the name, make some kind of "you scratch my back, I scratch yours" agreement, etc.

2. If no. 1 fails, then use any legal options at your disposal. But unless you're able to demonstrate "rights" to the domain name (specifically trademark rights), then there's really nothing you can do.

It's a reality these sorts of things happen. It's likely this occurred because the member has more "free time" than you do, and just wanted things to go on.

Who knows? You 2 might even form a joint venture. :)

[scissor22]

...Thanks davezan, it does makes sense what you just said.
If in the future if that person has established a business name under that domain and his business is copyright protected, in that case would that be a problem for me as i have registered that domain a year back before that domain was registered.
Additionally, would u suggest me to apply for a trademark for this domain name as i dont think he has already done that to his .net domain, so maybe doing something like this might help me..... ofcourse with less legal troubles in the future.

[davezan]

Trademarking your domain name might prevent future problems like this. But it won't necessarily solve this current one.

Have you tried talking to the other person anyway? Many problems, after all, have been resolved when 2 parties meet somewhere.