On October 15, the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, in partnership with IP CLUB, held the tenth meeting of its Legal Committee. The session was moderated by Marina Rozhkova, Chair of the Legal Committee and President of IP CLUB.
Participants explored the enforcement of decisions in domain disputes, the legal protection of domains in the US and Germany, challenges in applying the UDRP procedure, and other legal aspects of domain regulation.
The keynote address on reversing domain transfers following court decisions was delivered by Yulia Yadrova, Leading Legal Counsel for Claims and Litigation at RU-Center’s Legal Department. In her presentation, she analyzed current judicial practice regarding the reversal of decisions that require registrars to transfer the right to administer a domain name back to the original registrant. Following the presentation, amendments were proposed to the Policy “On the procedures applicable to domain name disputes” – in particular, the introduction of a mechanism similar to that used for exercising preemptive rights. There was also a proposal to more actively inform parties about available dispute resolution procedures.
Sergei Kopylov, Deputy Director for Legal Affairs at the Coordination Center, reported that a special working group on the reversal of domain transfers was established this fall. The group includes representatives from registrars, the Technical Center of Internet, and the Coordination Center.
Ilya Titov, an intellectual property practice attorney at the international law firm ADVANT Beiten, presented a report on the legal protection of domain names in the United States and Germany. He noted that in those countries, a domain name can be protected as various types of assets: a commercial designation, the title of a work, a trademark, a digital asset, and more.
Marina Rozhkova supported this important concept, noting that a single asset can receive versatile legal protection.
The Coordination Center’s Legal Counsel, Yekaterina Alymova, addressed whether domain disputes are truly arbitrable under the UDRP. This topic was examined in detail in a research study she conducted jointly with Marina Rozhkova. The presentation outlined a key legal problem: although many experts view the UDRP as an administrative procedure, the dispute between a domain owner and a trademark holder is a private law matter. It was noted that the parties’ consent to arbitration under the UDRP is reached in two stages: by the domain registrant upon registration, and by the trademark holder upon application to an accredited arbitration center.
Watch the full recording of the meeting on RUTUBE, ВК and YOUTUBE.
