Forum Moderators: not2easy
For one of our sites, we are going to be starting a small online community.
There was a Trademark on the name we chose...but it was listed as "Dead" in the Trademark search...and has been so for 6 years.
We applied for the Trademark of the name recently.
We registered the domain using the ".net" format....but, the company that used to hold the Trademark still owns the ".com" format and forwards hits to it to their main corporate site, which is still active.
My assumption is....that the company at one time 6 years ago considered using the Trademarked name as their company name...and then changed course.
The company that formerly owned the Trademark (and still owns the ".com" name) is in the business of reselling mobile phone, cable TV, and satellite radio subscriptions....but does not offer internet telephony (VOIP) at this time.
My company will offer an ancillary VOIP service to our community members....but has no business that competes directly with the other company.
Three questions.
Is there any reason our Trademark would be turned down just because of any of the facts above?
Is there any way for the other company to "revive" a Dead Trademark after we have now applied for a new one?
What is the best way to approach the other company to inquire about "buying" or "transferring for free" the ".com" domain to us? How do we do it in a way so that current owner of the ".com" domain doesn't mistakenly infer that we are "the next big thing" on the internet...resulting in them jacking up the price for the transfer?
CHEERS!
D
Hopefully it is a different class number (not the same as the dead trademark)
Is the dead mark in class 38 Communication? And your class?
Lets say that you are in different classes than you are ok,
Same class still you may be ok if they leave their mark as dead
If they claim their mark then you still might be ok if you can show the examining attorney that there will be no confusion between the two marks.
Good luck and let us know how it works out.
