Hi, Any idea how trademark law works in case if you register a trademark for a name that some one else previously/still using for their business and they do not have that registered. Let's say if you got a domain name and would like to trademark the name. Can that other business that is using the same name win against you and do dmca against you for using the same name.
If the other business is using the trademark (whether it is registered or not), they probably have some grounds to argue that they have a trademark. In the absence of a registration, the rights are determined by the extent of their use of the mark. Your use may or may not infringe their rights. For example, if they are using "Purple Cow" for a brand of eyeglasses and you want to use "Purple Cow" for a brand of ice cream, your use probably would not infringe on their existing rights. However, the answer in any given situation is based on a lot of specific facts, so it is impossible to provide any real guidance without knowing the mark itself, the scope of the existing use and the scope of your intended use. Even then, there are a lot of gray areas. That is why even among big companies you can see some very protracted litigation over trademarks.