Intellectual property law: on the procedure for redelegation of a domain name – SC CivCC

A domain name registrar cannot perform the redelegation of a domain name and change its owner if there is a decision of the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre ordering the transfer of the disputed domain name to another person. Refusal to transfer a domain name does not infringe upon the rights of its owner and is consistent with the principles governing the resolution of domain name disputes.

Such conclusions were reached by the Supreme Court as part of the panel of judges of the Second Judicial Chamber of the Civil Cassation Court.

In the case under review, the owner of the domain name cryomec.com, who is also the founder of the Ukrainian company with the commercial name “Cryomec”, together with the company, filed a lawsuit against the domain registrar and the Swiss company Fives Cryomec AG. They sought to have their right to the domain recognized, to stop the infringement, and to oblige the registrar to transfer the domain name cryomec.com to the company.

The claimants stated that the domain was lawfully acquired in 2015 and confirmed by a letter from Imena.UA, and that all renewal payments had been made in accordance with the public contract. However, when the owner applied for redelegation of the domain to his company, the registrar refused, citing an ongoing UDRP proceeding initiated by the Swiss company Fives Cryomec AG before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

According to the claimants, such a refusal was unfounded because the Swiss company does not have any registered trademarks or well-known marks in Ukraine, whereas the company “Cryomec” is officially operating in Ukraine. Therefore, in their opinion, the registrar had unjustifiably restricted their ownership rights to the domain.

The court of first instance, whose position was upheld by the court of appeal, refused to satisfy the claim on the grounds that the registrar had acted within the scope of the service agreement between the parties and had lawfully refused to redelegate the domain, since a decision of the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center had already been issued at that time, by which the domain name cryomec.com was transferred to Fives Cryomec AG. Given that the dispute over the domain name had been resolved through international arbitration proceedings, there were no grounds for intervention by national courts.

Leaving the court decisions unchanged, the Civil Cassation Court of the Supreme Court made the following legal conclusions.

In accordance with Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine “On Telecommunications” (as in force at the time the disputed legal relations arose), a domain is a part of the hierarchical address space of the Internet network that has a unique name identifying it, is served by a group of domain name servers, and is centrally administered. A domain name is a designation (verbal, numerical, or alphanumeric) used to identify the activities of legal entities and natural persons on the Internet for any purpose.

Pursuant to paragraph 15 of Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Protection of Rights to Marks for Goods and Services”, a domain name is a name used for addressing computers and resources on the Internet.

Delegation of a domain name is the process of granting a certain person the right to use a particular domain name. Delegation is carried out on a paid basis by a registrar that has concluded an agreement with the relevant domain administrator for the registration and delegation of domain names in that domain (in this case, in the .COM domain).

The fact of registration of a domain name constitutes the delegation of rights to it to the registrant, who uses the relevant domain name to designate a website, i.e., is the owner of that website with the corresponding domain name.

The organization responsible for assigning domain names is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which also establishes the procedure for the delegation of domain names, including geographic domains, and the procedure for resolving disputes.

At the time the claimant applied to the registrar requesting a change of owner and redelegation of the domain, a binding decision of the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre regarding the transfer of the domain cryomec.com to the Swiss company was already in force. Under such circumstances, the registrar had no right to carry out the redelegation in contradiction to the arbitration decision and the terms of the service agreement. Therefore, its actions did not violate the claimants’ property rights.

Resolution of the Civil Cassation Court of the Supreme Court dated October 8, 2025, in case No. 757/39395/17 (proceedings No. 61-14886sv24) – https://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/131067098.

This and other legal positions of the Supreme Court can be found in the Database of Legal Positions of the Supreme Court - https://lpd.court.gov.ua.