Okay, I have a series of companies that do different things but all under 1 general brand... Example Productions Example Studios Etc. I want to get ExampleEntertainment.com... at the moment the domain is being used by a company that looks like they were going to start up a year or two ago... but never got past putting a coming soon notice on the website. I contacted the owner to ask about purchasing since they obviously aren't using it. He emailed me back and said no. I've researched the trademarks associated with the name as well as availability of the name for a corporation, and both are free and clear, the people who own the domain never registered either. My question is, if I were to trademark the name and register the name as a business... would it be possible for me to have the domain seized and given to me?
I might be wrong, but as long as his domain is pointing to a "coming soon" page, you probably wont be able to get it. If he puts up a site using that domain under the same business category as your trademarked business name, then you definitely can go after him.
No, you can't register a trademark after the fact and use it to take a domain. The person who registered the domain first would be much more likely to be able to take your domains as "first to use" can establish common law rights for a particular classification provided they are actually operating as a business (doesn't matter if their website isn't being used). When you say you researched trademarks, did you pay for a trademark search? Just searching the USPTO.gov site is not enough. It only shows you registered marks. You can also be infringing with phonetic, misspellings, and foreign spellings. If there is another company that used "Example" entertainment, studios, productions, or just "example" as their business name, it doesn't matter if they have a website or not. You would likely be infringing upon their rights if you intend to use your domains in a similar line of business. Before you spend a lot of time developing a tradename, you should spend a few hundred dollars on a good trademark search, and should really consult an intellectual property rights attorney. Registering a corporation wouldn't do anything - the state only checks to see if that exact name has been registered, not if it is infringing upon an existing trademark. In theory, you could have dozens of corporations with the same name, each in a different state, and each with a different line of business.
Your costs: $325 Trademark filing fee $170+ legal fees (LegalZooom) but could get much more expensive if someone challenges the trademark application (timeframe: 9 months - many years) ICANN UDRP (Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy) You would have to prove all three of the following to have the domain turned over to you: (i) the domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights; and (ii) the owner has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and (iii) the domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith. UDRP filing fee: $2,000 (1 person panel) or $4,500 (3 person panel) Complainant success rate: 82% 1 person panel, 58% 3 person panel UDRP decisions take about month after commencement but I can't find any data on timeframes from filing to commencement.
Yes it is. Whether you will get it or not is a different question. What mjewel eventually posted is just scratching the surface, especially if the other party is prepared to dispute your dispute.