Domain Name: Digital Asset, Identifier, or Some Other Kind of Object?

This article is dedicated to a comprehensive analysis of the legal nature of a domain name as a special object functioning in the digital environment and proactively involved in civil commerce. The relevance of this work is attributable to the lack of a uniform approach used to qualify domain names in the legislation and judicial practices of different legal systems, which complicates the establishment of effective legal remedies. The goal of this analysis is to identify the prevailing doctrinal and law enforcement approaches applied to determine the legal nature of a domain name in the Russian, German and American legal systems and also to determine possible legal remedies in the respective countries. The authors have used as materials here the regulatory and legal acts, judicial practices and sources of academic research of the indicated legal systems. The underlying concepts of the legal nature of a domain name are analysed in the article: as address facilities, as a digital asset, identifier and item of intellectual property. They demonstrate that a limited technical understanding of a domain name does not reflect its actual role in the digital economy. The authors highlight the prevalence of a fragmented and contradictory approach in Russian law—by contrast, the German and American legal systems provide more flexible models of legal qualification, which enable the use of existing legal institutes to protect the rights of a domain name administrator. Particular attention is paid to analysis of a domain name as a subject of property rights and as a digital asset that has independent economic value and is capable of generating turnover. The authors conclude that a domain name has a hybrid legal nature, combining features of different legal categories, and substantiate the need to adopt a differentiated approach to its legal qualification, depending on the functions being performed, which makes it possible to ensure a balance of the interests of participants in civil commerce and enhance the effectiveness of the legal protection that is provided.

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