Pool.com does not screen out TM names, we only go after names that our customers request. And, I can say from experience that we have had many customers seek out to acquire TM domains. I have also seen these acquisitions immediately get challenged in UDRP and have seen the challenge fail and the respondent succeed in keeping a domain which many would have said they were not entitled to own.
The problem with "prior rights" is that the internet community has one method to deal with this issue, it's called a UDRP. Registrars are not obligated, for example, to make sure a new registration does not conflict someone elses rights in the world? It is true that new registry's provide a Sunrise period where TM and prior rights are protected but I can assure you that even in that environment there are usually multiple applications with compliant prior rights claims for the same domain. They may be in different contexts or usages but the text string is the same.
Pool.com and our competitors Namejet and SnapNames simply provide the ability for "any" potential owner to get the domains of their choice. None of us have either the authority nor the responsibility to vet their individual rights to a specific name, that is a simple matter for the courts. And clearly there are many domain i nvestors that are willing to a) pay the money for a premium name and then b) defend their right to that name in a UDRP.
As for this specific auction, the winning bidder has a limited time to submit full payment at which point we offer the domain to the second place winner. In the event they do nmot want the domain, we would look at re-aucitoning.