Google Banned from Using Google.ua

On October 5, 2010, the Higher Commercial Court of Ukraine prevented a fictional Ukrainian company called Go Ogle from using the domain name Google.ua.

In 2007 several young Ukrainians established a company Go Ogle in Kiev and succeeded in obtaining trademark registrations for Go Ogle (No. 60594) and Google (No. 78119), and the domain name google.ua. The google.ua page was used for redirecting users to the Ukrainian dating website Kokhaimosja.

The initial consideration of the dispute between Google, an American multinational corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies, and Go Ogle in Ukraine started in 2008 when Google filed a claim with the Kiev Commercial Court to prevent Go Ogle from using the commercial name Google in its domain name. Google also requested that the court prevent the .ua domain name registrar, Hostmaster, from delegating the domain name.

On February 3, 2009, the Kiev Commercial Court ruled in favor of Google. On June 16, 2010, the Kiev Commercial Court of Appeals upheld the decision of the Kiev Commercial Court. The Courts’ decisions were based on the argument that the domain name could lead users to believe that it belongs to the well-known search engine.

In October 2010, Go Ogle filed a cassation appeal with the Higher Commercial Court of Ukraine requesting to reverse the decision of the Kiev Commercial Court of Appeals and the Kiev Commercial Court. Hostmaster also filed a cassation appeal with the same court requesting to reverse the part of the decision related to the delegation of the domain name google.ua to Go Ogle.

On October 5, 2010, the Higher Commercial Court of Ukraine decided to deny Go Ogle’s use of Google’s commercial name in its domain name. However, the same court decided to send back for a new trial the issue of Hostmaster’s delegation of the disputed domain name. The specific issue to be argued is whether the registration of the domain name itself infringed Google’s rights.

For more information, please contact Maya Kryvoshei at our Ukraine office.

Source: Ukrainian news portal Biz.liga.net