RUSSIAN DOMAINS
ON THE RIGHT TRACK: RUSSIAN COURTS CLARIFY DOMAIN RULES
According to Ru-Center, which is the largest domain name registrar in the ‘.rf’ and ‘.ru’ domains, approximately 10 percent of the registered .ru domains belong to cybersquatters. Tis phenomenon occurs when brand-linked domains are registered by individuals who intend to hold the domains and sell them to brand owners at a high price later. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization
(WIPO’s)
Cybersquatters Index, in 2009 Russia occupied the 12th place among leading countries for cybersquatting. Many international companies, such as Eastman Kodak, Gillette, Google, Coca- Cola and Microsoſt have been involved in suits against Russian cybersquatters over domain names registered in the .ru zone in recent years.
44
Te problem of cybersquatting in Russia is closely linked to court practice, as Russian legislation does not specifically address cybersquatting. Unfortunately, none of the Russian top-level domains (TLDs) provides for any mechanisms similar to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), which defines how disputes over domain name registrations are resolved in the global TLDs (.biz, .com, .info, .name, .net, and .org, as well as .aero, .coop, and .museum).
Tis means that Russian courts must apply available laws in order to resolve domain disputes. Court claims to recover a domain name in Russia are usually based on the infringement of
Trademarks Brands and the Internet Volume 1, Issue 2
trademark rights, or infringement of the right to a company name, or a combination of the two. Te major problem with all domain name disputes in Russia is that to be entitled to claim trademark and/or company name infringement a company must either have a registered trademark so that it can claim trademark infringement, or operate in Russia so that it can claim company name infringement.
Further, courts generally used to believe that the registration and use of a domain name that includes a registered trademark owned by a third party would constitute an infringement of trademark rights only if the website associated with such domain name is used for selling/ promoting goods or services similar to those for
www.worldipreview.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68