Seems like this is the place for me to get a little more educated on domain name laws and international trademarks I have a .com domain name of a football/soccer club of one of the most successful clubs from former East Germany. The name is almost unheard of here in the U.S. and is not trademarked here. Does anyone know how to research German trademarks? And if it is trademarked in Germany, what does that mean for me? Many thanks! This is my first question so go easy....
You can't ride the goodwill established by someone else - it is trademark infringement. It's impossible to say without knowing the name, but you can't use it for anything related to the success of someone else i.e. nothing about soccer.