I've been building an MVP for a while now and have already had a landing page for quite some time now (.CO).
Recently I noticed the .COM domain was bought and set up as a SPAC, a shell company aiming to purchase another company in the same space as I am, within 2 years. No trademark was filed, but the SPAC is backed by big famous organisations, so I wouldn't have chance against them.
Should I consider rebranding? It's a bit of a pain since it took some time to find a good name, set up emails, certificates, domains, etc. But it's easier now that I don't have clients yet, and I can't afford trademark/legal expenses.
Domain conflict with "shell company" – rebrand?
byu/FatefulDonkey inEntrepreneur
Posted by FatefulDonkey
2 Comments
this feels annoying but you’re actually in the best possible moment to deal with it.
the real risk isn’t legal right now, it’s future confusion, if they’re backed and active in the same space, they’ll likely dominate search, branding, and mindshare later. rebranding later after you have users is way more painful than doing it now. one practical way to decide is simple. google your name and imagine them launching properly, if you get buried instantly, it’s a sign.
also try picking something more distinct this time, not just available, uniqueness saves you a lot of headaches down the line.
Why did you buy the co, but not the com? Of course you want to rebrand here, and make sure to spend the extra $12 a pop for the coverage on other tlds.