March 20, 2009 at 16:47The right to inherit domain names in RU'net
Many of us are domain administrators, some of which are tens, and thousands. On some of them are the sites of your business, on the part are your blogs or services, and some of them is your home page. At least for me. And what will happen to my domains, in dozens (I really hope) of the years when I will be gone? After the end of the paid period, it will be bought to advertise Viagra or reinforced concrete, or will relatives be able to get control over it, and, for example, continue my business, sell my services, and put a picture with the latest RIP on my blog’s domain ? Elena Borisova, a lawyer of RU-CENTER and George Georgievsky, a representative of the Administrator of the national domain RU ANO “, answered me this questionThe focal point of the national domain of the Internet . "
According to George Georgievsky, there is no direct answer to the question about the possibility of domain inheritance.
From a legal point of view, domain administration is the provision of services, and according to part 1 of article 1112 and Article 128 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, such a service is not included in the estate. Also, according to Part 2 of Art. 418 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the obligation (in this case, the obligations of the Registrar) is terminated by the death of the creditor (read the Domain Administrator) if the performance is intended personally for the creditor or the obligation is otherwise inextricably linked to the identity of the creditor. In the case of registration of a domain name, it would be correct to consider that the registration is intended personally for the Administrator (creditor).
“The rules for registering domain names in the RU domain contain an exhaustive list of cases of cancellation of registration, the death of the Administrator is not indicated in them. However, since the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, which has greater legal force in comparison with the Rules, tells us about the termination of obligations in the event of the death of the creditor, after receiving irrefutable evidence of the death of the Administrator, the Registrar can either cancel the registration immediately or after the registration expires. According to the Coordination Center, a notarized copy of a citizen’s death certificate is sufficient evidence, ”says George Georgievsky.
As it turns out, in Russia there were no examples of litigation on the issue of domain inheritance (at least the Coordination Center does not know about them), the decisions that courts may make in the future can be very different, and depend on a huge number of nuances, especially if the domain was not a homepage or a personal blog.
It just so happened that Georgy Georgievsky so accurately and professionally presented the point of view of the Coordination Center on this issue that I cannot help but insert another paragraph, in fact, with a quote: “In life, we see that domain names are sold for very significant amounts. In addition, a domain name can be registered for network addressing of an Internet site through which a business is run that belongs not only to the deceased, but also to other persons, in particular heirs. Therefore, it is likely that if the domain name is canceled, the heirs or third parties will try to challenge it. In order to avoid such cases, the Registrar may envisage its own procedures for transferring domain administration rights to heirs or third parties. How to do it and what documents are required at the discretion of the Registrar. However, it is worth noting that this does not guarantee the Registrar the absence of further claims from third parties. ”
As you can see, even though the Civil Code of the Russian Federation completely exempts the Registrar from obligations, he can make a decision on his own. Here is how Elena Borisova commented on this issue: “The RU-CENTER registrar considers such issues individually when an interested person contacts an official letter and a copy of the administrator’s death certificate. If necessary, additional documents may be requested depending on the situation. ”
Domain name administrators are living people, they live, love and die. There’s nowhere to go, but now the question that is highlighted above is unlikely for anyone to arise, because companies register their domains as legal entities, and the heirs of individuals are simply not up to the domains. But such a moment will come, first in the West, and in a few years with us, when this issue becomes more relevant, and amendments to the legislation or the rules for registering domain names will become popular and important for the heirs, for whom, and how, The domain has not been registered.
Unfortunately, I have not yet clarified several questions that I had while writing this note, for example, how this procedure works in the West, or is it possible to legitimize the transfer of Domain Name Administration rights to heirs using a will, where a separate clause will indicate what to do with the domain and how. If I can clarify these issues, I will additionally talk about them.
PS - about the will specified. Russian law says that services cannot be inherited, this is discussed in the articles mentioned above (part 1 of article 1112 and article 128 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
According to George Georgievsky, there is no direct answer to the question about the possibility of domain inheritance.
From a legal point of view, domain administration is the provision of services, and according to part 1 of article 1112 and Article 128 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, such a service is not included in the estate. Also, according to Part 2 of Art. 418 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the obligation (in this case, the obligations of the Registrar) is terminated by the death of the creditor (read the Domain Administrator) if the performance is intended personally for the creditor or the obligation is otherwise inextricably linked to the identity of the creditor. In the case of registration of a domain name, it would be correct to consider that the registration is intended personally for the Administrator (creditor).
“The rules for registering domain names in the RU domain contain an exhaustive list of cases of cancellation of registration, the death of the Administrator is not indicated in them. However, since the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, which has greater legal force in comparison with the Rules, tells us about the termination of obligations in the event of the death of the creditor, after receiving irrefutable evidence of the death of the Administrator, the Registrar can either cancel the registration immediately or after the registration expires. According to the Coordination Center, a notarized copy of a citizen’s death certificate is sufficient evidence, ”says George Georgievsky.
As it turns out, in Russia there were no examples of litigation on the issue of domain inheritance (at least the Coordination Center does not know about them), the decisions that courts may make in the future can be very different, and depend on a huge number of nuances, especially if the domain was not a homepage or a personal blog.
It just so happened that Georgy Georgievsky so accurately and professionally presented the point of view of the Coordination Center on this issue that I cannot help but insert another paragraph, in fact, with a quote: “In life, we see that domain names are sold for very significant amounts. In addition, a domain name can be registered for network addressing of an Internet site through which a business is run that belongs not only to the deceased, but also to other persons, in particular heirs. Therefore, it is likely that if the domain name is canceled, the heirs or third parties will try to challenge it. In order to avoid such cases, the Registrar may envisage its own procedures for transferring domain administration rights to heirs or third parties. How to do it and what documents are required at the discretion of the Registrar. However, it is worth noting that this does not guarantee the Registrar the absence of further claims from third parties. ”
As you can see, even though the Civil Code of the Russian Federation completely exempts the Registrar from obligations, he can make a decision on his own. Here is how Elena Borisova commented on this issue: “The RU-CENTER registrar considers such issues individually when an interested person contacts an official letter and a copy of the administrator’s death certificate. If necessary, additional documents may be requested depending on the situation. ”
Domain name administrators are living people, they live, love and die. There’s nowhere to go, but now the question that is highlighted above is unlikely for anyone to arise, because companies register their domains as legal entities, and the heirs of individuals are simply not up to the domains. But such a moment will come, first in the West, and in a few years with us, when this issue becomes more relevant, and amendments to the legislation or the rules for registering domain names will become popular and important for the heirs, for whom, and how, The domain has not been registered.
Unfortunately, I have not yet clarified several questions that I had while writing this note, for example, how this procedure works in the West, or is it possible to legitimize the transfer of Domain Name Administration rights to heirs using a will, where a separate clause will indicate what to do with the domain and how. If I can clarify these issues, I will additionally talk about them.
PS - about the will specified. Russian law says that services cannot be inherited, this is discussed in the articles mentioned above (part 1 of article 1112 and article 128 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).