Domain Name Trademark Issues

Peter

I currently own a XYZ.COM and was recently contacted by the owners of XYZ.NET asking to buy my .com.  I have every intention of using my XYZ.COM and have own the XYZ.NET, start development on the XYZ.COM site and is almost ready to launch the site.  The owers of XYZ.NET has since trademarked XYZ for the same classification use as what I`m planning to use the XYZ.COM for.  I`m refusing to sell XYZ.COM and is now being threaten by owners of XYZ.NET of trademark infringement.
Has this happen to anyone else?  What are my rights?!?!?!

iouone2

I was threatened with a 3.2 million dollar lawsuit with my elusivetreasures.com account. Evidently there is multi-million dollar business in another state who felt the name should be for them an not me. I had to contact lawyers and all that, but really nothing happened. A few letters from my lawyer, a few aggressive phone calls from thier lawyer, and it was basically over. That was 3 years ago. I have never heard from them again. thank goodness.

Peter

Lucky you.  My battle is just starting.I was threatened with a 3.2 million dollar lawsuit with my elusivetreasures.com account. Evidently there is multi-million dollar business in another state who felt the name should be for them an not me. I had to contact lawyers and all that, but really nothing happened. A few letters from my lawyer, a few aggressive phone calls from thier lawyer, and it was basically over. That was 3 years ago. I have never heard from them again. thank goodness.

misterwicks2006

Don`t get sued..especially in a (foreign) state.
I was sued for $1,500 and it turned intoa $10,000 with Lawyers fees(theirs), and I didn`trepresent myself in the other state - bigno-no!!
You might want to sit on the .comand not use it!! Talk to your legalcouncil.

LogoMotives

It might be worth contacting a new SuN member, who is a trademark attorney that was mentioned in a previous thread.  Erik Pelton recently registered here - and he`s been very helpful to one of my current clients.- J.

Peter

Can`t that be construed as "cyber squatting".  If I own Pepsi.net and intend to sell my own brand of cola drink does that give me the right to use it because it`s not Pepsi.com?  Probably not since Pepsi is a registered trademark.
I had someone fire up myscrapbiz.com and try to sell a multi-level direct sales opportunity for another company.  I was amazed at the "I don`t care" attitude when I contacted both HER AND the the founder of the direct sales company.  She eventually stopped using it.  But, how many people typed in "ScrapBiz" and got BOTH sites?  It was causing confusion and that`s one of the issues.
~Kim
 

Kim,
There`s 2 things here.  Trademark has different classes of use so assuming xyz is a trademark for the garment industry, there can be another xyz trademark for an electronic store.
In my case, I have the same plans for the .com and they do for the .net but they trademarked it before I got to it.  I spent alot of time and money to develope the site so don`t have intend to cybersquat or sell the domain.  If they`re suing me for the cybersquatting, they can`t win because I`m using the site for a real purpose.  If they sue me for trademark infringement, I`m not familiar enough to know if there`s a case.
I have been receiving annoymous bids through domain auction companies (from the same people) and have also received threat emails.  At this point, I`m waiting to receive a letter from their lawyer.