Hi,
I wanted to buy a Domain which is called xyz.COM (xyz of course not being the real name). Now after a bit of research, I found that the domain xyz.NET is already registered and in use for a similar purpose i was planning to set up.
Both websites are for business use, but xyz is not (yet) a registered trademark.
Could I get in legal troubles if I set up my domain?
Thanks for your help!
You can register .com and then get a trademark for this.
This is no problem in future.
Good luck
So even though the other site was up first, I can claim the trademark and be safe? That sounds good, thank you 
Both websites are for business use, but xyz is not (yet) a registered trademark.
Could I get in legal troubles if I set up my domain?
A trademark can exists de facto, even if it isn’t registered. If the mark is known enough, they might be able to defend it in a court of law. Registering the trademark might give you a leg to stand on, but I don’t think it makes for a rock solid foundation.
Suppose Google would not have registered “Google” as a trademark. By now they’re so widely known so that another entity would have a hard time defending their claim to the “Google” trademark.
I understand that not all Trademarks are registered, this sucks a bit…
However, I’m really surprised that you can register Domains with the same name (second level domain) and just different Top Level Domains, i thought if you have registered xyz.com (or .net, org, whatever) no one else is allowed to use xyz as name. Even if its not a Trademark.
It’s better to somehow change your xyz.com to xy-z.com or something because in will be misunderstanding with this websites for some people
Yeah, but on the other hand, I read that domains like xy-z are much less popular, because the seem “cheap” and people have problems remembering them.
Don’t be surprised, it happens all the time. That is why hosting companies push for you to register the other TLDs. It this case, I would expect the xyz.net owner to have a specific reason to have the .net TLD. If I wanted xyz.??? for a business, I would try to get all the TLDs for that name and would register xyz as my trademark.
I suppose if you do not want to get in trouble register domain name and then register trade mark.
Even if after domain name registration someone register trademark in any case you will be first with your domain name and that would be your argument against.
There is another factor at play which no-one’s addressed yet.
If you did produce a website on a domain similar to someone else’s and it’s deemed that people could misrepresent your brand for another, trademark or otherwise (registered or not) you could still forfeit the domain under anti-cybersquatting laws which prohibit someone registering a specific TLD with the intention of misrepresenting their business as your own. You need to be VERY careful if you do register that domain not to fall into the territory of appearing to be something you’re not, as the other business could not only snatch the domain from you but potentially take legal action against you for trying to damage their business.