Please help me with this domain 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

 

[DNjet]

Unless there is an actuall trademark involved then there is nothing that can be done , it actually might help you in the long run if the .net forum becomes popular because people will certainly typo to your .com

 

[saatmarket]

yes so no worry

 

[scissor22]

Yes , i agree SearchSix, it does make sense. I am happy that it might be good for me in the long run....

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.
(PS- DO we apply for a trademark....... how do we do that...could you also tell me about this)

Thanks

 

[maxo]

I assume that you should contact your lawyer regarding the issue who has an experience in the field

 

[DNQuest.com]

you can't file for a trademark, it is earn through commerce. You can register your TM at uspto.gov. You still need to establish you have TM status which will be researched. You are also able to file for "future use" for your protection. Now, if you just had a forum and really didn't make money from it or didn't have any commercial value, then registering in a different extension is acceptable. That is why there are different extensions offered.

 

[Dave Zan]

Say, didn't you ask this in webmasterworld? What happened to talking to the
other person? :-D