How problematic is a dead trademark?

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redgie

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Hello,
This question is for a client.

In 2006, I created a website with the name CarThing (that's not the real name, but it'll suffice because the real name doesn't have any personal names in it, just nouns). Although my site isn't a .com, it is hosted with an American hosting company.

At the time there were at least 2 other non-American websites that used that term in their name but they didn't see to be active. I looked into registering a trademark for CarThing but decided to wait because I was on a shoestring budget. However, I did decide to append TM to the CarThing logo because I knew that I would eventually register it.

Now it's 2009 and I'd like to finally register the trademark. One of the reasons is that other sites have begun to appear with names like TheCarThing (although they're not found in TESS).

A search of TESS shows that although no one has registered CarThing either, someone did have a trademark for Car-Thing (note the hyphen) that was registered back in 2001. However, the entry in TESS shows a Cancellation Date in September 2008 and the trademark now has an indicator of DEAD.

Assuming there are no other trademark variations of CarThing, how should I best proceed with my registration of CarThing? Is the dead Car-Thing trademark something I need to act on e.g. do I need to file an objection against it? If so, how would I file an objection?
 
If the trademark is dead, it is dead. In addition, what objection would you have? That you want to register your own trademark afterwards? My thought is that you should proceed as planned.
 
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