question How would you approach an enduser with ideas while..

[cmdomains]

...while holding a domain with their company name? (No, not looking to sell it to them. See last paragraph.)

Situation:
I hand reg domains that I initially wanted to develop but after doing some more trademark research and reading, I found one of them can cause TM issue (perks of not knowing the right tools before registration, not knowing the right questions to ask, and acting on excitement first).

One domain bears a registered company name which is hyphenated, mine isn't. This domain also has one extra word. I'm guessing these don't matter much because this company provides products that I wanted to cover (meaning to do reviews/articles on). I can probably take these off my list and just focus on other products with different features/mechanisms/functionality to avoid trademark issues.

But what are the odds this company later on decide to expand and offer these other products too? I'm not sure I'd wait for this to happen but let's say I wait and it never happens then life's good (?)

My other option: offer them the domain for free and the rest at a cost (if they see value in them). If you are in this situation and rather not wait, avoiding any future concerns/trouble, how would you approach the company to offer one domain for free and the rest at a cost (providing them your initial ideas). Is this doable or just completely abandon the trouble domain (cry a little, move on)?

 

[Willox Perez]

Well this is an interesting situation as you bought the domain without knowing and without intentionally buying it to benefit from their trademark and popularity. If you did not purchase the name yet then of course I would say to stay away as it is not worth your time especially with the trademark. This simply would mean that all your hard work would go down the drain if they decide to go after you which is a high possibility.

Now that you own the domain what you want to do is interesting and I say give it a shot just reach out to them be honest and see what they say. Worst case they make you give it to them for free which you are willing too and they don't listen to your ideas. But you should not let that stop you and just find another name and implement the ideas you have.

Go for it and let us know what happens and what kind of response you get from them.

- Will