advice Someone stole and created a company based on my domain?

[KaJi]

Hi guys,

I'm not very involved in domains even though I have a few. Recently this very strange situation happened to me and I want to know what possible implications this may have. I won't name the domain but I'll try to explain the timeline.

1) on day D-15 ("D minus 15") I launch a contest on Namestation.com to find a name for my new SaaS startup
2) during days D-15 to D-2 (about two weeks) I get around 200 suggestions
3) on day D-1 I reject most suggestions except two or three which I shortlist
3) on day D I select the winner (.COM domain) on Namestation and award him the price. It is a one-word name which had zero results in Google on this day, so basically an entirely new name.
4) on day D (same day) I register the .COM domain along with several ccTLDs and move on with the business.

Now a few weeks go by, I'm working on the startup and just now I discovered that:

5) on day D-1 (day before contest end) someone registered a company with the exactly the same name as my domain. It is a British Private limited Company owned by some four Indians
6) on day D+1 (day after contest end) probably the same guys registered a .co.uk domain and they launched some weird Shopify site which looks like a fake store selling random various stuff
7) on day D+20 someone applied for a trademark (Class 9, Class 35:
Advertising; marketing; provision of business information via a website; retail services connected with the sale of computer software, application software, computer hardware, computer peripherals, monitors, keyboards, computer mice, modems, hard drives, computer memory hardware, parts and fittings for all the aforesaid goods; business assistance; information, consultancy and advisory services relating to all the aforesaid services., Class 42) with this name in the United Kingdom
8) on day D+35 the trademark was approved
9) someone also took the Reddit handle

What does this all mean? Is this some trademark troll or just some retarded person doing this for fun?
I'm not based in UK so I don't really know how much it costs to register a trademark there and why would someone do that.

What could happen if my startup becomes huge and they will claim they had some shitty fake store before me?

I haven't launched yet but I don't want to rename because I really really like the original name.¨Also I hate lawyers and dealing with bullshit so I'm really disappointed someone is doing this.

 

[erchaman]

Happened a similar case but didn’t find a profesional answer, let me follow the thread in case we both find the answer. I wish you the best friend and don’t stop your work.

 

[KaJi]

Is this a common thing to happen?

I mean, it must've cost them maybe £500 to register the company and apply for the trademark.

The name of the domain are two adjectives joined together, so I'll call it COMPOUNDADJECTIVE.COM.

If you Googled "compoundadjective" on the day I registered the domain, you would get literally zero results.

Then they come in and register a company (before my domain), register a .co.uk domain (after my domain) and get a trademark (after my domain).

The company seems to be registered by what we call in my country "white horses", basically nominee directors.

The content of the .co.uk site is a total joke, ugly Shopify store with default template and five random products. Contact form doesn't work and the entire site is empty. They claim something in the header (relevant to the domain) which is NOT true.

 

[KaJi]

Their domain and their trademark was registered after me.
So should I stop worrying and don't care at all?

They managed to register the company before I registered my domain,
probably because they noticed it on Namestation.com and they stole the idea.

I don't have any company with the same name and I don't have trademark.

For better explanation I want to transfer it to a hypothetical situation:

- namepros.com is registered on 2003-01-04 and you start building a legit community portal
- Mr. Scam registers "Namepros Ltd" on 2003-01-03 and "namepros.co.uk" on 2003-01-05
Mr. Scam build a shitty fake e-commerce store selling software on their domain.
In a year they sue namepros.com for trademark infringement.

What can they realistically achieve?​

 

[Name Trader]

You should look for the date the trademark was first used in business. If this predates your domain registration, then you cannot use your domain in breach of their trademark. But you can still use it for anything which is not in breach of their trademark You should also register your domain in Facebook and Twitter at the very least. Hope that helps.

 

[hxp]

You registered your domain before they registered theirs, before they actually used it in business, and before they registered their trademark. So, in that sense, I don't think you should have any problems keeping your domain.

The question of wether or not you will actually be able to use the domain in business depends on: how strong their trademark is, how far it reaches (location/country), what class(es) of products/services it protects, and the "likelihood of confusion" that you might bring up by moving forward with your idea.

This all seems very strange though. I'm surprised anyone would go through that much trouble to get in your way. Are you recognizably rich or something? :S

 

[xynames]

Besides the issues of who came first (not filed first - used in commerce first) and likelihood of confusion: If the TM isn’t even in the country where you would be selling your domain and it would be used it doesn’t matter anyway. For example if someone had a TM in say only the US it would offer no protection outside the US.