LEGAL REGULATION OF DOMAIN NAMES: THE EUROPEAN EXPERIENCE

Abstract

This Article is devoted to the study of the possibility of improving the legal regulation of domain names with the help of European experience. A review of legislation and legal practice regarding domain names in Germany and France was conducted. The legislation of Ukraine regarding domain names has been analyzed. A comparative analysis of European and national legal regulation of domain names was carried out. It is proposed to develop special legislation on domain names in Ukraine using foreign experience. The obtained results provide an opportunity to improve the legal regulation of domain names in Ukraine. Introduction. The problem of legal regulation of domain names exists due to the complex physical nature of domain names and the imperfection of legislation in this area. Currently, there are no unified approaches to determining the legal regime of domain names. Some scientists believe that domain names should be classified as objects of intellectual property rights, others propose to recognize them as a special type of property. Legal regulation of domain names acquires practical significance when conflicts arise between domain names and other objects of civil rights. Although many disputes are resolved on the Internet by recourse to the UDRP's Uniform Domain Dispute Resolution Policy or variations thereof, arbitration procedures are not always effective. In this regard, appeals to national courts to resolve domain disputes do not lose their relevance. There is no international legislation on domain names as such. At the same time, the legal regulation of domain names at the level of the legislation of each country can differ significantly. In this case, the observation of foreign experience and the study of the possibility of borrowing it for the improvement of the legal regulation of domain names in Ukraine becomes especially important. Review of the literature. The legal regulation of domain names was studied by such scientists as Boyko D., Bontlab V., Bulat N., Horobets, N. O., Hrytsai V. I., Diduk A. G., Dolotov M., Zerov K., Kodinets A., Korshakova O. M., Kokhanovska O. V., Kisil O., Kulinich O. O., Lebedeva G. V. Pihurets O., Skazko O., Dittrich, Jörg, Korman T and others. However, at present, the national legislation regarding domain names remains imperfect, and therefore, the study of European experience in this area and the possibility of borrowing it does not lose its relevance. Research methodology. The purpose of this article is to investigate the European experience of legal regulation of domain names on the example of Germany and France and to study the possibility of borrowing the latter into national legislation. To achieve the goal, the following tasks are solved: to investigate the legal regulation of domain names in Germany and France (sources of law, legal and judicial practice); highlight some problematic aspects of the legal regulation of domain names in Ukraine and suggest ways to overcome them at the expense of foreign experience.