Trademark problem, or not

[twomoon]

Week ago I won in the expired domains auction domain MarketAds (dot) com. I did pay for it a big money for me. It’s 5 years old domain. And now thanks to a one NP member I discovered that it’s a trademark - http://deadlinedisplay.com/marketads.html. So, what must I do now?
And if my domain is registered earlier than that trade mark, it’s also illegal to keep it?
Please help me with it.
Thanks, Nick

Maybe I wrote it in a wrong place. I’ll be grateful if moderator will move it to Legal Issues & Disputes.
Thanks, Nick

 

[Mattias]

I feel that Market and Ads are two VERY generic words that unless you develop a site on it in MarketADS business field I think you should be okay

 

[twomoon]

Thanks Agar. Good news for me. Rep added. I didn't plan to develop it. Maybe some other ideas?

 

[weblord]

not a tm

Sorry, no results found for "marketads". Try entering fewer or broader query terms.

http://usasearch.gov/search?affiliate=uspto.gov&v:project=firstgov&query=marketads

 

[twomoon]

Thanks Weblord - it's sounds good )) And do you know why on the logo of that firm there is TM near the words Marketads?

And one more question connecting to that domain. In whois you can see that there are Sedo NS’s, but Sedo maybe is checking that domain now. I understand it. But I don't understand the message: “Services for this domain have been discontinued” that appears when I'm trying to go to that web site.
Maybe somebody have an idea why that message appears?

 

[zabijaq]

See this, all US trademarks are DEAD:

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfiel...h&a_search=Submit+Query&a_search=Submit+Query

Nice keywords but I would love domain with swapped keyword position and singular :D

 

[twomoon]

Thanks Zabijaq - it's a good information!

 

[newzone]

maybe is registered in another country ? what if the trademark is registered in Australia ? Germany ?

 

[johname]

your fine on this

nice name

 

[AsiaDomainer]

Related question on this topic.

It seems the opinion here is that this name MarketAds is ok because

1) the 2 terms that make it up are fairly generic and
2) the US trademarks are DEAD.

In general, if you own a domain for which the US TM are Dead does this mean you are in the clear?

For example lets say I own an LLLL.net name where the LLLL.com belongs to a company named AB LLLL Inc. (LLLL is not a dictionary word, at least not in English, but is a pronounceable/brandable sort of name)

This company AB LLLL Inc. (based in Korea) has filed about 4 or 5 different TM applications in the US for LLLL (LLLL Product Name, LLLL Computers, LLLL Web etc.) All these applications are listed as DEAD in the US TM database.

I suspect from this that the name they are trying to TM cannot be trademarked because it is too common, general etc. or there are too many other companies / organizations with this same name.

This makes me think I am safe to hold the name, but I would be interested in another opinion or clarification from anyone who knows more...

Thanks in advance!

 

[codemerc]

By owning such a domain you are NOT infringing on anyones trademark.

To infringe you must have a site that is confusingly similar or in the same field, or in some way relate to the trademark business , for instance showing adds for the business.

If in any doubt do not park the domain, or have contextual adds.

For this name I'd put up a simple review site of internet marketing systems, marketing courses, affiliate schemes, and have affiliate adds for them.

 

[twomoon]

Thanks codemerc. Reputation added

 

[theuniverse]

they are general words,i donot think that you will face any TM problems unless you damage the other company name,...etc.