Problem with the domain I bought

[Sandie2018]

Hi guys,

I am starting a dropshipping store and found an expired domain in my niche. I checked it on Wayback Machine and was happy that there was previously an ecommerce shop on this domain with the products from my chosen niche. All looked perfect, so I bought the domain.

I was going to start all the steps with wordpress, woocommerce, etc., but I also thought about creating a brand in the future.

I started doing research and it appears that the name of the domain is the same as the trademark registered in the Intellectual Property Office in the UK. By the way, the domain I bought ends with co.uk.

I started digging more and it looks like this domain was initially used by the owner of the trademark.
Do you have any idea what I should do now? I don't suppose I can use the domain and offer similar products.
Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[drogon]

Not worth the risk of building up the domain that has a trademark.

Why do you need an expired domain for your own brand? Better to register a new clean domain with your brand.

 

[streamkite]

Are you sure the trademark is still current?

 

[Sandie2018]

Yes, the trademark is valid until 2023!

 

[Sandie2018]

@drogon
You are right, but it was a nice sounding domain name with the keyword in my niche.

I found out that this company now uses a domain ending with .com.
I don't suppose they'd want to buy this .co.uk domain from me.

 

[marioIT]

so the .com is already taken by them and yours is identical, only .co.uk?
If it's like that, then forget about it.
Where the company is based and where the trademark is registered?

EDIT: OK sorry just read it's UK and you're in uk also. No way, pick a different one.

 

[Bread]

Keep it until 2023, register the patent?

I wouldn't reach out to the company, as they can legally take the domain back - they don't have to give you anything for it.

 

[marioIT]

Yeah if you reach them they'll send you at least a scary letter (takedown notice) from their lawyer, then I don't know if it would be worth to ramp it up...

 

[streamkite]

All you can do is either let it expire or contact the company and explain you registered it without knowing it was trademarked and offer to transfer it to them for a small fee (or just reg fee). You can't build a site on it because they can take it off you anytime.

 

[marioIT]

I would simply try to sell it to someone else... cold call people in the same niche and try like that.
As long it's not a loss who cares. That's a dead domain unless you have big money for lawyers etc

 

[Sandie2018]

Thank you all for your answers.
I will let the domain expire and be careful next time.
Thanks again.

 

[AngelSeo]

Thank you all for your answers.
I will let the domain expire and be careful next time.
Thanks again.

Register new domain, 301 this one to your website. No problem with the trademark, still getting the juice of the links.

 

[Sandie2018]

@AngelSeo
That's a very good idea, thank you.

 

[wisdomkid]

It's never okay building a brand using a trademark name. Lost a 2k$/month site to a trademark.
I learned the hard way. It is not worth it and can almost push one to depression.

Avoid trademark domains.

 

[soyaara]

You need legal advice in your country, if it's legal, you can proceed, but i doubt so.

Even if it's OK, you should only use the domain name, change the name of your store.