You might if they pretend to be you rather than just coincidentally having the same name. Worth consulting a lawyer in the US on that.

Otherwise, if you have trademarked your name you might be able to if they sell to the UK or anywhere else your trademark applies.

This has happened to me all over. Dunno if its meant to be clever and steal existing thunder or just plain dumb. One the UK had the gall to trademark my name but he can't touch me because I existed first. He is not using it but refuses to sell. Another has 1000s of users who keep trying to log into my site... are pyramid selling schemes even legal in India?

If you have a good name, just thinking about it can inspire them to register the next available TLD.

There is not much you can do. But there is bright side... if they promote it and people use Search to find the website, and you have SEO ranking for that name, then you may get more traffic from it :-)

Thanks, Kendo.

Your final point is a good one. Being in a completely different country to us, I'm guessing there's little I can do. I nearly sent the owner an email but am thinking this could backfire.

Consult an attorney (your country first, then later, if necessary, overseas). YOU DO NOT WANT TO ALLOW THIS TO CONTINUE... it will erode your site/reputation and once that is gone the game is over and they won by cheating/stealing.

Then again, you need to investigate your actual damages, what will be lost, and what cannot be recovered as this goes on.

MEANWHILE, examine your LOGS and make sure you are not passing 200s on referer (sic) links, mash down any uglies you fine, and disavow at every opportunity.

Went through something like this not long ago (last year) with Asian countries and took six months to whack it all down.

Stand up and be counted as THE ORIGINAL SITE and at the same time take all necessary steps to squash the bad actors ... and that might take legal counsel and cease and desist letters and DMCA (or whatever is similar in your country) to the hosts of these infringing sites.

DO NOT JUST SHRUG YOUR SHOULDERS as they will steal everything you have. And eventually make your name "mud"...

Just sayin'.

There's no "lazy fair" here, only head in the sand if no action is taken.

YMMV

Without a trademark registered in their country, the only winner will be the patent and trademarks lawyer that you hire.

It also happens by accident.

I registered what I thought was a completely original company name. There is a company with the same name (a combination of English words) in Vietnam. I did search before I chose the name, someh ow missed them (maybe they moved up the SERPS in the meantime).