On October 22, the expert working group, established by Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ to develop a procedure for registrars and other stakeholders involved in domain registration to take in case a court ruling regarding a domain name priority registration is cancelled or reversed, met for its session. Along with members representing the Coordination Center and registrars, it also includes other experts such as lawyers specializing in working with the judiciary on domain-related disputes.
Rights holders can apply for a court order to claim their right to priority registration of domain names as per the Regulations titled “Procedures for Domain Name Disputes.” During the meeting, participants discussed the procedures registrars and other parties can take if a court order is cancelled. According to these Regulations, if the court rules in favor of the rights holder, the domain name registration is cancelled, and the rights holder can register the domain in their name as long as the latter claimed this priority within 30 days.
However, some registrars have been complaining that the Regulations fails to set forth a clear procedure in a situation when a preceding registrant seeks to recover their right, while another individual or entity has already registered the domain in their name.
Although there have been very few cases of courts reversing their rulings regarding the priority right to register a domain name, the Coordination Center asked the working group in July 2025 to draft amendments for the .RU and .РФ Domain Name Registration Rules and other regulations due to registrars raising this issue. Back then, the group failed to come up with a solution. Experts from the Coordination Center are currently working on the possible solution and recommendations within this specialized group, whose next meeting is scheduled for November.
