On March 31, an extended meeting of the Law Regulations Committee of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ was held at the Financial University under the Russian Government. It was organized jointly with IP-CLUB members and representatives of Kutafin Moscow State Law University. The meeting took place during the Online Business Responsibility conference held as part of the 7th International Scientific Student Congress.
The meeting was opened by Coordination Center’s Director Andrey Vorobyev. He spoke about Russian and international practice in resolving domain disputes and the legal situation in the domain industry. According to him, the industry is governed by the Coordination Center’s regulations, on the one hand, taking into account international experience in the domain registration system, and by Russian legislation, on the other hand.
Sergei Kopylov, Coordination Center’s Deputy Director on Legal Issues, presented a report on interim measures, which may be applicable to domain names in disputes. He noted that it is necessary to use all types of interim measures in lawsuits, including a ban on the change of an administrator, a ban on the change of a registrar and a ban on the cancellation of a domain. The domain registration rules describe the necessary procedures to do this. In addition, there are samples of claims published on the center’s website. He also noted the audience’s high interest in the issue: “Communication with students showed that they do not just understand the problem but are also interested in Internet governance and are ready to discuss existing problems, put forward some interesting ideas and certain initiatives.”
Marina Rozhkova, IP-CLUB President, spoke about difficulties in determining the legal status of a domain and those faced by general jurisdiction courts when considering domain disputes. According to her, the term “domain administrator" is not good from the standpoint of Russian legislation, as its meaning is unclear. She submitted a proposal to the Coordination Center to issue an explanation, which would specify that this term means only a person having the right to a domain name. The proposal was supported by the Law Regulations Committee and will be included in the agenda of its meeting.
