Say I own the same domain name as another company that has an ecommerce shop on their tld of the domain name. They own the .co.uk and have been running for longer than I have , but I own the .com version. I have run an information style site in the same niche as them on my .com version for 2 years and the site earns around $1500-$2000 in adsense per year. If I wanted to offer to sell my .com version of the domain name to them, what would be the best way to approach them without appearing as a cybersquatter and giving them ammunition to try to claim the domain from me for being a cybersquatter or whatever and using their domain name? As stated the site is making adsense money as an information site and I have stated on the site homepage that it is run by someone other than the other company in question. For obvious reasons I do not wish to disclose the urls so please do not ask. The other company does not have any trademark or copyright on the name but they just have a Limited company in the same name as the domain name registered in the UK. Would it be better to offer them the site as an earning business stating the adsense income rather than to highlight the fact it is the .com of their domain name. Or would I am open to accusations of cybersquatting , which I believe I am not doing as the site is a working site with many pages of unique content written by me that is earning money in its own right via adsense. I am not earning off the back of the other company as the site has its own unique content, but as I wish to sell anyway I thought the company owning the .co.uk may be interested to acquire the .com version of their domain and may be the best option for the highest sale price.
Since your site is up and running, why not contact them to see if they have any interest in buying your domain? I doubt that anyone could accuse you of cyber squatting.
I'd be careful if I was you. The fact that they were running their business before you and that they have a company who's registered under that name could kind of give them rights to the name when used with that niche. A trademark doesn't necessarly have to be registered to stand. Are they a big company? If they've been running for years now, they are most likely aware that there's a .com out there, yet they've never approached you in the past?
According to 15 USC 1125 they could hardly accuse you of cybersquatting according to the following: 1. They do not have a trademark on the domain name (if you are sure of that). 2. Unless the holders of the other site is a very large company, the domain name cannot be considered as an explicit identification of their business. 3. You have not been attempting to divert consumers from their web site in a confusing way, either for commercial gain or in an attempt to tarnish or disparage the trademark mark. 4. You have not purchased domain in order to receive financial gain by simply reselling the name. 5. They would have to prove the distinction of their domain name. Anyways, do you really want to sell it to them? You may form a partnership, f.e. since both of you are working in the same field. Nevertheless, I am absolutely sure they have already discovered your site. Since they have not started any legal issues yet, hardly they will do that in the nearby future. Just approach them and explain the situation in a nice manner.
No they do not have a trademark registered but they do have a Limited Company name that is the same as the domain. But it is also a very general term and not a brand type name. They are not a particularly large company but do fair business via their ecommerce site from what I can tell. I may offer to sell them the entire site and domain and see how they respond. Thankyou all for the advice.