Does a .net owner have any rights to the .com?

[sunroof]

I bought a .com name (no site), and there was an established .net site with same name. I haven't heard anything from the .net owner, and there is no registered trademark for the name, I checked that before I bought the .com name.

But I started to wonder if the .net owner has any claims to the .com name, since it has been in use as a .net for at least the past year or so. Also, it appears that the .net owner is not based in the United States, if that makes any difference.

Anyone have any ideas, or run into this situation before? I'd be curious to hear your thoughts and experiences. Thanks.

[petrosc]

if he has no established trademark then i would say that he has no legal claim on your .com

Actually, I don't think that he would even bother to claim anything even if he had a trademark, simply because he didn't even bother to grab the available .com while running a business on a .net. That is poor business management

[gdurni]

Sometimes I wish I had rights to many .com's which I have the .net version of... but usually only wishful thinking... especially with generics.

[StockDoctor]

Ther .net has the absolute right to bleed traffic over to the .com without restriction.

[Acro]

I own the .com of a domain that the .org owner applied for a TM registration. The .org predates the .com, which I caught using a drop service. But even if they register the TM, they don't have rights to the .com automatically. They applied in a different class than what I use the .com for.

[Dave Zan]

I bought a .com name (no site), and there was an established .net site with same name. I haven't heard anything from the .net owner, and there is no registered trademark for the name, I checked that before I bought the .com name.

But I started to wonder if the .net owner has any claims to the .com name, since it has been in use as a .net for at least the past year or so. Also, it appears that the .net owner is not based in the United States, if that makes any difference.

Anyone have any ideas, or run into this situation before? I'd be curious to hear your thoughts and experiences. Thanks.

Have you also checked any trademark office where the .net registrant is? Any
state or common law trademark, if any?

It's the .net registrant's burden to demonstrate rights to the .com, if any.