Legal nature of domain names

Gergana Varbanova ()
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Gergana Varbanova: Àrbitrator of the Arbitration court of the BIA, Sofia, Bulgaria

Economics and computer science, 2022, issue 1, 54-58

Abstract: There is no consensus in doctrine and case law on the legal nature of domain names. This is because the term domain name has a legal definition, which covers only its basic, technical characteristics, but not the features of the legal phenomenon of domain name and its legal nature. An additional difficulty is created by the scarce legal framework, which uses the terms domain or domain name, but does not explain what domain names are from the point of view of law. The present study aims to answer the question of what is the legal nature of this new phenomenon for the law – domain name (domain). To achieve it, the following tasks are performed: (1) to analyze the continental and Anglo-American legal systems, making a critical analysis of the theory and case law regarding the phenomenon of domain name; (2) to analyze the supranational and national legislation, the Bulgarian legal doctrine and case law in order to clarify the peculiarities of the legal phenomenon domain name; (3) to answer the question of what is the legal nature of the phenomenon of domain name and whether it belongs to the relative or absolute subjective rights; (4) to separate the right to a domain name from the right to a trademark and from the right to a company name. Comparative legal analysis of case law and different legislative systems are performed. The technical features of domain names are outside the scope of this study. The results of the scientific research show that in the Bulgarian legislation there is no explicit regulation of domain names, which would reveal the legal peculiarities of the phenomenon. After the analysis, a reasonable conclusion can be made that the right to a domain name is a relatively subjective right, which is regulated by the general legislative framework of the Republic of Bulgaria.

Date: 2022
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