advice If I have a trademark for the domain I want, does that give me leverage on the buying price of the domain?

[allaboutdomains295]

Hi everyone! So I have a trademark application pending for a particular name. The domain for that name (e.g. name.com) is taken, but it's not being used right now (the domain points to a broken link, and it's been like that for a few years).

The nature of the name is that it would pretty much only be used for a particular industry.

So my question is...if my trademark application gets approved, wouldn't the domain name be close to useless for the current domain owner?

I'm asking because I would like to buy the domain name from them, but I found out through some research that they paid a pretty expensive price for that domain name in the last few years. I'm assuming if they were to let me have the domain, they would probably want to recoup what they paid, but I can't pay that much!

I'm wondering what sort of leverage I might have, if any, or maybe to rephrase the question more appropriately: what would be going on in their mind from their perspective if I were to approach them?

I would really appreciate any advice before diving into this alone!
Thank you!

A few things I'll add:
I'm aware that owning a trademark is not the same as a domain name, and vice versa.
As I'm typing this, I realized that where I have the trademark for could also come into play, for example if the owner is in one country whereas my trademark is in another. I do plan to file an international trademark application, and there is a reasonable likelihood it will overlap with the current domain owner's location (though I cannot be certain).

 

[Maggie Mae]

APPLE Daycare would not be in conflict of business with APPLE Computer/Phone products; diff TM classes, so no confusion in the marketplace.

TM in the same class is determined by date of first use; if they used in commerce prior to the link breaking, they may still have ownership in that class (assuming this is USA as it's covered by common law first use).

If not familiar with Nissan Motors vs. Nissan Computers, you might find it helpful to read about that domain.

If it is a really good domain, you might offer to purchase via a payment plan, b/c of the longterm value for your company and brand could be a priceless investment.

Best of luck to you in your new business and the domain issues.

 

[Sjpals]

So you want to hijack the domain…

Others have given great advice.
My 2 cents worth is yes, life is unfair. I couldn’t afford $3k for the .com I wanted. I took the .net. The .com is now priced at 15k. Such is life. If you can’t afford it, suck it up and move on. Choose a different name.

 

[pb]

The nature of the name is that it would pretty much only be used for a particular industry.

If you have a pending TM for a term that "would pretty much only be used for a particular industry", it's very likely that it will be denied.

 

[Surya Giri Kurniawan]

You can be proofed as RDNH (Reserve Domain Name Hijacking) at the court. And chance to get the domain will be very little : you must pay the price + legal fee to the owner, or owner have the rights not to sell the domain to you.

Only buy domain you can afford the price. Domain industry now is different then a decade ago. The panels know that alot of party miss use Trademark to get the domain with cheap price, and they will lable it as RDNH and bad faith using of Trademark

 

[FolioTeam]

I visit Hacker News from time to time to learn more about the mindset of startup founders and how they think about branding, marketing, and domains. Specifically how they discuss these elements of business among themselves.

This How to trick a domainer out of their digital gold type of post appears often on the Hacker News forum/threads.

They refuse to follow Paul Graham's advice in his famous blog post: Change Your Name (August 2015).

OP probably expects the same bad advice on how to hijack a badly desired EMD domain.

Hacker News is notorious for this. All domainers are basically seen as cybersquatters over there.

 

[FolioTeam]

It is hard to reach a fair middle ground with the "I have a pending TM so your domain is useless" approach.

Just make a serious offer if you want the domain. If not, move on.

Brad

It's how condescending that statement sounds, for me. That will definitely kill any interest I have in negotiating a deal if I was the seller.

 

[{Mike}]

I'm in a similar boat, kinda. Own the .ca for a .com with 50M+ monthly visits. However, the name is trademarked, so I'm not sure what I should do. I've been sitting on it for years now.

 

[Daniel Owens]

Hi everyone! So I have a trademark application pending for a particular name. The domain for that name (e.g. name.com) is taken, but it's not being used right now (the domain points to a broken link, and it's been like that for a few years).

The nature of the name is that it would pretty much only be used for a particular industry.

So my question is...if my trademark application gets approved, wouldn't the domain name be close to useless for the current domain owner?

I'm asking because I would like to buy the domain name from them, but I found out through some research that they paid a pretty expensive price for that domain name in the last few years. I'm assuming if they were to let me have the domain, they would probably want to recoup what they paid, but I can't pay that much!

I'm wondering what sort of leverage I might have, if any, or maybe to rephrase the question more appropriately: what would be going on in their mind from their perspective if I were to approach them?

I would really appreciate any advice before diving into this alone!
Thank you!

A few things I'll add:
I'm aware that owning a trademark is not the same as a domain name, and vice versa.
As I'm typing this, I realized that where I have the trademark for could also come into play, for example if the owner is in one country whereas my trademark is in another. I do plan to file an international trademark application, and there is a reasonable likelihood it will overlap with the current domain owner's location (though I cannot be certain).

There was the mikerowesoft case that was crazy lol. But, yeah in reality on a domain that has a TM for a new business shouldn't expect to get the domain for it at a bargain at least if the domain was regged before the TM. Make a fair x,xxx offer at least in my opinion.

 

[kandyan]

Given my industry/situation and the type of business, the ".com" of the domain is not necessary but a nice to have, and would likely not require a rebrand if I do acquire it in the future. So perhaps I make an offer, don't bother mentioning the trademark, see if there's a price we agree on, and if not, I drop it until I can save up to offer a higher price later.

In that situation, the thing that I'm not sure about here is...let's say my business takes off in the next few years. They may be inclined to hike up the price because they know I'm successful! But on the flip side, I'm successful, so it's unlikely anyone else but me would want to or could use the domain (due to my presence in commerce)... so now what!

You can try? "Lease with a purchase option"

Negotiate/agree for a reasonable price, pay a monthly rental (20/50/100 dollars) for 2/3/5 years or whatever until you save up the amount, even if your business is wildly successful the seller cannot increase the price as it's already agreed upon and the domain is locked until you break the agreement, you can use the domain on your business from day one. this will you save your reputation/legal woes and may be get your dream domain too.

 

[cerno]

I believe your strategy of attempting to trademark a brand where someone else owns the .com domain is likely to backfire on you one way or another. I happen to own several domains where various companies have attempted to hijack the brand name as their business name but operate on similar but slightly different domain names. Over the years I have seen many trademark applications that were never approved and others that were simply abandoned after a year or two. These idiots eventually figure out my domains are receiving a good chunk of the web traffic resulting from their marketing efforts. As I have catchall email accounts setup for some domains I also receive their emails from their customers and service providers that just assume their domain name matches their business name. Last week I noticed business license receipts for one of these brand squatters, it's hilarious.

 

[winst]

If you really like the name, grow your business, raise capital, then make an offer close to or more than what the current owner paid.

Otherwise, pick a different name, preferably a name that nobody was using, and you can hand register the domain name for $10.

It's like you see an empty office building in the middle of New York City, and you think because it was empty for a few years, you could bargain with the owner to cut you some slack and sell the building cheaply to you.

Just like real estate, sometimes people get lucky getting a really good domain name on the cheap. It takes skills and a lot of patience. Sometimes you get lucky but you may have to wait a few years.

Good luck.