What should be considered when buying an expiring domain? ie getting sued?

I am looking at buying a couple of domains that will be expiring in a couple months and am worried about getting sued.

Can I be sued by the old holder of the domain?

Does having their domain name trademarked make a difference?

Any info or links on the subject would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

That's what I was asking. If they have their domain trademarked, and it expires, then I cannot register it and use it for commercial purposes?

Lets assume that the owner died, forgot to renew, chooses not to renew, or any other reason you want.

I'm trying to grab domains that slip through the cracks. If I notify the owner I am interested, he just renew the domain.

 

Unless it is trademarked, there will be no problem.
However, if you do excatly what the former owner do (provide the same service) he might do something about it. if not, there is nothing he can do. Remember, he is the one who let it drop, and you didn't steal it from him

 

Let's be a little more specific here. I'm using generic domains here, but the ones I am looking at are similar in type. Say I wanted to register the following domains when they expire:

diamond.com
diamondnet.net

Say both are trademarked. They both sell diamonds. I plan on putting a message board on them about diamonds and placing ads on them.

Any issues?

Say both are not trademarked. note: samskpunk says no, but a second opinion cannot hurt.

Any issues?

Can diamond.com even be trademarked? Or are generic terms exempt from trademarking?

Thanks

 

that's a bad example..
windows is generic but it is trademarked.

 

Nothing bad about it. The questions cover both situations. Trademarked and not trademarked.

 

My law professor used to say "Anyone can sue anyone and for any reason"

 

I think the main thing you may worry about are trademark issues. Other than that, registering an expired domain name is safe.