My concern is they registered and trademarked the first 9 letters of my domain to try to wrestle it from me. I am not sure if this is a problem to go as so far to get an IP lawyer and dispute the trademark so I could use some input. Perhaps I am just being paranoid and do not understand how trademarks with domain names work. My domain is something like boguslookup.com and the competitor register trademarked is something like boguslook.com. I have owned my domain, it is developed and live since 2000. Where as the offending site was owned by various people since the late 90s but never developed or trademarked. That was until a couple years ago a large company brought that domain and upsto trademarked it. They brought their new site live with content similiar to me and used a font for their domain name similiar to mine. I had the opportunity to buy the site rather cheaply since I was always getting spam forsale emails for it on and off for the last 10 years but never brought it since I thought without the last few letters it had no meaning. You try to register every variation of your domain name but never thought this one would be a problem. USPTO shows thier domain registered as first use in business. Unless I misunderstand how trademarks work how is that possible considering my domain with those terms was active long before they trademarked it thus the UPTO should have rejected their application by doing a simple web search, correct?
Wrong. The USPTO only searches for registered marks for possible infringement. Is the usage the same or similar? You may have a common law rights to the term for a specific usage (starting from the date of first use in commerce, not domain registration). Trying to cancel an existing trademark is not cheap - five figures minimum. You need to get in touch with an experienced IP attorney to take a look at your specific mark and situation.
Usage is the same. I was thinking along those same lines with common law rights which is why I have been delayed doing anything. I believe the period to fight the USPTO registration is 3 years so I figure I better do something soon.