Domain value impact of trademark conflict

[msquared]

There is a certain 5-letter, 2-word .COM domain name that I am looking to buy.
Lets just call it 12345.com (not the actual name). It was registered in 1999
but never used for anything (wayback shows just a generic "under construction" page but
even that has disappeared.. no dns A records). So there is no way
to know what the owner intended to use it for, if anything.

Now my company name happens to be 12345 and we have had a
product called 12345 on the market since 2002. I have recently
applied for a federal trademark with evidence of use since 2002.

Before exploring other legal options, I want to make a fair offer to buy this
domain from current owner. So I paid for a couple appriasals (sedo and
accuratedomains) and got values up to $30,000.

My trademark is in a class of service which is the only conceivable one
for 12345. In other words, there is almost ZERO chance of a
non-infringing use for this domain.

So what does my trademark do to the street value of this domain?
Is the domain a legal liability (negative worth) ? I want to offer maybe
$3,000 and see how it goes.

Seeking your thoughts and opinions please.

 

[DNQuest.com]

Just looking at the facts, the domain was not registered in bad faith (it was registered 3 years before the product went to market), so I don't understand what "legal options" you would look into. If you did go after the domain, you could be subject to reverse hijacking.

AS far as usage... Labrocca could easily find non-fringing usage of the domain.

You are at a disadvantage here, so price is set by the seller. If you received appraisals for 30,000, I would start at 3,000 and see what happens. Since it is for you product that went to market after the domain registration, I might anticipate paying something higher than that.

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but that is the reality of the situation.

 

[labrocca]

AS far as usage... Labrocca could easily find non-fringing usage of the domain.

hehe....all stated very well DNQ. Sorry but unless the domain owner goes out of his way to obviously infringe on your mark you don't have automatic rights to that domain. Could you PM me the domain? I would be curious to know more. If I can help you make an offer to the guy and get it for a fair price I would be happy to do so.

 

[Devil_Dog]

Wow, sounds eerily familiar to my situation as domain owner. Right down to the years... Wait a minute... :o

 

[Dave_Z]

So what does my trademark do to the street value of this domain?

Unless the registrant of that domain name's a total noob, nothing.

Be prepared to pay whatever price s/he gives if the name's that important for
your company. And using any legal options afterwards could potentially back-
fire given what you stated.

 

[scrsteven]

I would say your chances of legal action forcing the name to you are next to nothing, but I am no lawyer. I would start with a lower offer, like $500. An initial 3k offer is very high and would result in countering to 30k often. If you offer 500, they may counter only 10 times = 5k, but it really depends on the specific name and if it's a good name they may laugh at your 500 offer and not respond. If you PM me the name I'd give you some better advice.

 

[labrocca]

The big mistake is making ANY offer. Simple show interest and ask if they would be willing to sell. Never ever make an initial offer. You might be pleasantly suprised when he emails you back with a price within your range. Usually I say something like this...

Hello. I found you via whois. Your email is the listed owner for xxx.com. I was wondering if you would be interested in selling this domain. If you have a price in mind I would be interested in hearing it. If you wish to discuss this please email me back at your earliest convenience. Thank you for your response.

Jesse

Use a yahoo email or something that he can't link who you are to it. Use only your first name in the end. Most of the time I google whoever emails me to see if they own a company with bucks or not. What you are trying to do is hold your hand close as not to expose anything. See what you can learn from them first if you can.