Greetings, I own the trademark to my business name, which I acquired (finally) last month. To my dismay, I discovered someone already owns the domain name of my business & trademark name. However, the person that owns the domain isn't using it for anything- it still goes to the godaddy default site. Is there anything I can do to claim this domain without bargaining with the owner?
No, he is not infringing on your mark by merely owning the domain. You would need to convince him to sell it to you.
What if I included ".com" in my business name / trade mark? At the least, he can't a business with that name.. right?
I did not think you could trademark domains... Pizza Hut is the trade mark/name; Pizzahut.com is the domain, and it just so happens their trade name is in the domain. not sure if that is what you meant.... But what if you come up with your trade name first in your domain.com then someone then someone tries to trademark your name? Lets says I have adultcrabs.com then someone starts a business and wants to trade mark Adult Crabs, inc... how does that work? (Ill let you imagine what type of business Adult Crabs could be...hahaha) But what if I have a Business called Adult Crabs, then someone tries to trade mark the name Adult Crabs, even though I just have a business name? Would they even be able to do that, even though I did not go through the trademark process...
Doesn't matter, if he owned the domain before you trademarked it there's nothing you can do but get in touch and buy the domain. Otherwise people will be going around trademarking domain names just to take them.
Yup: file a UDRP or a lawsuit. But you'll spend money doing either one, you must prove your claims, and you still have no guarantees of a desired outcome. A trademark aims to prevent consumer confusion, not necessarily grant some absolute magical claim over its domain name-sake. More so if that domain was registered before its trademark name-sake existed. It may "hurt" now to buy it from its current owner. But since it's for your business, you can recoup your "investment" after (if you make it work), and you won't have to cause any ill will towards one another. Just some things to consider. Good luck. Heh, you could. Look at USPTO for mess.com, which had quite a messy story after.
If you really want the domain, you should not threaten with a lawsuit... Ill tell you why... If you did this to me, then you just lost all chances of ever making a deal or buying the domain from me... do not even contact him at all... Contact a domain service like sedo/buydomains, they will contact the owner, and start the process... This would be much more effective just to buy the domain if he decides he wants to sell, then start out of the gate making threats, and if you do not have the money to follow through, then they are empty threats... overall, you may get a cheaper deal just buying it if he should decide to sell it, then going through the legal process, and not even know what the actual outcome will be, and cost you $1,000's.... If he should not respond to their requests, then you know what his answer is Then do what you feel you need to do...
It is sometimes possible to trademark a domain name, but NOT if you don't already own it. There is basically nothing you can do other than buy the domain as the domain owner has done nothing wrong. You would lose a UDRP or lawsuit. There is nothing you can do that will make their actions up to this point illegal. The only way you could take the domain was if they unparked the domain and started using it in a way that violates your trademark. Like if you own "XYZZ" in the category of shoes and they turn xyzz.com into a shoe store. But they can use xyzz.com for anything else as a trademark only applies to a certain category of goods or services.
It is possible to get a trademark for your domain if you are selling services that are legal through your website. In other words, your run an online service through your domain/website