Heres my situation. I have replaced my actual company name with the fictional BerryInc. I have recently acquired a trademark for *BerryInc*. BerryInc.com was first registered in 2003, but has dropped multiple times and nobody has developed a site on it for quite some time ( it is currently a parked domain, for about a year) BerryInc.com is up for renewal early in 2010, but since I have a trademark, would I have priority on the domain over the current registrar (If they choose to re-new a parked domain)? I need something to get me this domain, so please help me out. Thanks
Missed the part about classes in the trademark info did you? That is a common name. A berry is a berry. Common names are first come first served by classes.
No, the domain was registered before your trademark was established. The registration was not in "bad faith", and likely isn't infringing upon your usage (sometimes competing ads can be infringement). Even if it was, you would need to take legal action - either a WIPO or lawsuit and since even a WIPO (the cheapest action by far) would run thousands of dollars in attorney fees, it would probably be cheaper just to purchase it.
I've tried to purchase the domain privately. The whois info is masked (private) so i contacted the company who's making it private and asked to speak to the person who owns it. They said they didnt want to sell it ( im not even sure they even talked to the person) Berry has nothing to do with it, i just would rather not say the real name... A closer analyogy would be StellerCorp.com or something to that extent
From what you have described, you would have no right to the domain unless they started to use it in a manner that competed with your usage. If that happened, figure about $4,500 for a WIPO and a LOT more for a lawsuit.
No, you don''t have any priority. If the person doesn't want to sell, just send them a letter stating that you hold trademark on the name and they cannot use it for specific purposes..if they still don't want to sell...move on and purchase a different domain. There is really not anything you can do, unless they infringe on your trademark in the future. They had it first.