trademark issue with .com.au?

[Specialk]

Hey guys.
Hoping someone can help me here.

I have owned a certain .com domain since 1996 and have sat on it with the hopes of one day developing it. I had it parked for the last while and finally got off my butt the other day and changed the DNS in what was to be the 1st step of getting it going.

I did a quick search on Google and found that that there is a franchise chain that owns the .com.au of this domain. This company is expanding and really should own the .com of their name.

I don't want to develop this domain if it is a trademark issue. I was not aware of this potential issue until this week.

Now what is the best plan of action.

Do I contact the franchise and offer the domain to them at a reasonable price or does this open the door to a potential suit?

Do I develop it and ensure that I am not making $$ off of there trademark?

Thanks for any advice/suggestions.