Facebook social network requires Facebook.ru from the Golden Crown

Facebook requires a Russian company to transfer the domain facebook.ru to it for free. Since 2005, it has been owned by the Golden Crown payment system, and more precisely, CFT CJSC, the head company structure. Previously, the domain was not used, but now when you enter it into the address bar of the browser, automatic redirection to the Golden Crown website is in progress. Facebook requires you to transfer the domain to it by September 30, Kommersant reports .

According to representatives of the social network, she began to work in 2004. Since the beginning of the 2000s, Facebook has been the sole owner of the trademark of the same name in various spellings. Well, since the domain facebook.ru reproduces a registered trademark, this is against the law, and Facebook Inc. does not accept this situation.

In a statement, the corporation refers to Art. 1515 of the Civil Code , which provides for liability for the use of someone else's trademark in the form of compensation up to 5 million rubles. or double the value of a trademark license. From the “Golden Crown” Facebook corporation demands to inform it about the result of the consideration of its claim before September 6.
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The press service of the current owner of the domain reported that he really was acquired in 2005. “Over the previous 12 years of claims from Facebook Inc. or no other person regarding the domain has been received by us, ”said company representatives. Unfortunately, the explanation of why the company needed the name facebook.ru was not followed. It may well be that the domain was acquired for the purpose of resale to the owner of the corresponding trademark after his arrival in the Russian Federation. “Most often, such registration is another piracy practice aimed at obtaining an audience on your website by illegal actions by using someone else’s trademark,” said Yana Brutman, a partner of the law bureau “TM Defense”.

Previously, a social network sometimes bought domains, and at a fairly high price. For example, in 2010, she bought the domain FB.com for $ 8.5 million. But this time, the social network decided not to buy the domain name, but to get it for free.

So far, the “Golden Crown” has not refused a domain, which means that the case can be brought to court. In this case, Facebook will have to defend the right to the domain name. “Facebook has all the legal grounds for filing a claim with a request to donate a domain and pay compensation for the illegal use of a trademark. In the case of proper evidence gathering, the chances of winning are high, ”Brutman commented on the situation.

Currently, Facebook corporations own domain names that reproduce the company's trademark in the national zones of Australia, Austria, Belgium, and China. France, Germany, Pakistan. However, the Golden Crown has every chance of winning, because the company itself is not a competitor to the social network, and the words “face” and “book” are commonly used. In any case, Alexander Tonkonog and Partners, Chairman of the Moscow Bar Association Alexander Tonkonog, thinks so.