On October 30, the Legal Affairs Committee of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ held an extended meeting, organized in collaboration with IP CLUB. Marina Rozhkova, Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee and President of IP CLUB, moderated the session.
The meeting addressed issues surrounding “consumer online extremism” and challenges related to domain disputes.
Maxim Ali, partner and head of intellectual property at Comply law firm, presented the concept of online consumer extremism. In his talk, Consumer Disputes with Online Businesses: Where is the Line Between 'Extremism' and Consumer Protection?, he explored how e-commerce has transformed trade over the past decade. Ali highlighted the growing impact of technical errors, which can escalate on a large scale, often to the detriment of sellers. He referenced prominent cases, such as the Rolf case and the TsUM case, where consumers exploited technical glitches to attempt purchasing goods at disproportionately low prices.
Marina Rozhkova emphasized that this issue is highly significant today and has the potential to impact any consumer.
Ilya Titov, a lawyer specializing in intellectual property protection at ADVANT Beiten, presented on Claims in Domain Disputes. He discussed the protective measures that can be applied at the pre-trial stage of a dispute, along with claims that support a copyright holder’s right to register a domain name. Titov suggested updates to the Regulation on Procedures for Domain Disputes, including extending the registrar’s period for extra-judicial restrictions to 90 calendar days. Additionally, he proposed aligning the grounds for a copyright holder’s pre-emptive right to administer a contested domain with court guidance. This would include new provisions for the cancellation of conflicting rights and the transfer of domain administration rights to the copyright holder.
Nikita Maltsev, a patent attorney in the Russian Federation and lawyer at Gorodissky & Partners, talked about the processes for claiming compensation and damages in domain disputes. He noted a recent trend where courts are reducing the compensation amounts awarded, a pattern likely to continue.
“The compensation awarded depends on numerous factors, all of which must be carefully considered when substantiating the claim amount,” Maltsev said. He also cautioned that damage claims in domain disputes are uncommon and that such claims are often rejected.
“I hope the courts will recognize the true value of domain names and that rulings will align with current approaches,” Marina Rozhkova concluded. “We are steadily building case law in domain disputes and will keep sharing insights from the most noteworthy cases in this area.”
