Trademarked 'com' Domain Name

What is the name of your state? WY/NY

Our firm is incorporated in Wyoming with authority to do business in NY. We applied for a trademark of our company name with USPTO. We currently own the .net, .us, .biz, .org domains for our company name but someone else is cyber-squatting on the .com domain name of our company. The person owning the com extension did not launch the website nor is advertising it for sale. We did do a search for the name of our company before we incorporated it and before filing it for the trademark for any conflicts and there were none.

Since our application with USPTO is a new one and not completed its registration yet, when can we legally try to acquire the com domain from the other person now?

As it might take upto 18 months before we get our registration, is it advisable to wait that long? What if the person starts using the domain name or sells it in the meantime? Is there a way to stop it?

At this stage, is it a good idea to anonymously contact the person to inquire his asking price to sell his domain? We contacted him recently anonymously and he said he is willing to sell it and asked to make an offer.

Any advice to the above queries is highly appreciated.

tm

I thought these were easy FAQs but I could not find answers anywhere on the Internet. Can someone please answer?

The reason you have not gotten a response is because you have not asked ONE legal question.

What you are talking about is well known in the webmaster industry. It is called domain jacking. Somebody calls thier business "BobsAidiot" and then feels he is entitlted to own the domaiin, bobsaidiot.com. And when they dont get the dot com they have a ignorant Attorney write cease and desists. You are not entitled to the domain name. And corporations that try to hijack domains are dispicable. Stop feeling like you are entitled to something becuase a company name poped in you head. Jeez! your not even registered yet. Do you actually think if you call your business "1" you are entitled to that domain. Anyhow, before your overwhelming sense of entitlement gets the better of me and I lose my temper and get banned, here is some advice: Type in SEDO, go to thier website, excellent company, type in the domain you wish to purchase and they will contact the owner, they will must likely have better luck with thier knowledge about how the industry works. Everything goes thru escrow. These people are very good at negotiating domain purchases. Thier are people that make thier living off of buying and selling domain names or using them as a retirment fund. This sounds like the case. In other words, don't expect to pay $50 for it. The domain name "lawyers.com" was recently purchased by martindale hubbel for close to a quarter of a million dollars.