Moscow Arbitration Court considered the claim of OAO «Karavay» to the operator of the domain name karavay.ru and ZAO «RU-CENTER». OAO «Karavay» has been the manufacturer of a wide range of baked goods for citizens of North-West and Moscow regions for more than 80 years.
OAO «Karavay» pointed out that it is a trademark owner of several trademarks «Karavay» since 2003 and registration of karavay.ru domain on a later date by Tevron LTD violates its rights. This is why according to OAO «Karavay» the use of the domain should be forbidden and it should be transferred to the plaintiff.
Anton Sergo from the law firm «Internet&Law» represented the defendant. He noted that the plaintiff didn’t provide trademark certificates that would prove the similarity with the goods that the trademark was used for.
According to Anton Sergo, illegal registration and/or usage of the domain was not substantiated not confirmed by the plaintiff. On the contrary, the domain is used for non-profit reasons and has no relation to OAO «Karavay» activities. A common usage word and not a trademark are used in the name of the domain. Thus, there is no reason for the satisfaction of the claim. The acts of the plaintiff are considered the «abuse of rights» according to the Article 10 of the Civil Code.
Having considered the arguments of both sides, the court made a decision to reject OAO «Karavay»’s claim.
