How to Preserve Your .UA Domain Rights: Details You Shouldn't Ignore

• Relationship between domain and trademark
• Controversial situations: is it possible to lose an already registered domain?
• Simple rules to avoid complex problems

Registering a trademark not only provides the owner with a reliable way to protect their intellectual property rights, but also provides them with additional opportunities.

Upon completion of the trademark registration procedure, in accordance with the provisions of the current .UA Domain Regulations, the owner of the TM Certificate receives the right to register a private second-level domain name.

Therefore, the domain is inextricably linked to the Certificate, so it's crucial to remember how the terms are calculated. This applies both to the term for which the domain was delegated and to the validity period of the Trademark Certificate.

How many years is a TM certificate valid?

If you are the owner or the person authorized to dispose of a trademark, you must ensure that your Certificate is renewed. According to current legislation, a trademark's validity period is 10 years from the date of filing the registration application and can be extended an unlimited number of times, subject to the filing of a corresponding petition and payment of the fee to Ukrpatent.

Domain delegation is carried out according to the paid period, according to the registrar's rate. Expiration is publicly visible in WHOIS, so it's important to renew early.

Why is it important to do everything on time?

Over a long period of use, trademark owners often forget about the need to renew their trademarks, while their competitors remain vigilant. So what happens next?

Unfortunately, cases of domain delegation being terminated through court proceedings following third-party appeals are not uncommon. Therefore, in the absence of proper legal grounds for trademark ownership, the loss of a Trademark Certificate jeopardizes the survival of the entire business.

Regarding domain renewal, if the deadline is missed, it becomes available for registration. Therefore, any owner of a trademark whose wording matches the domain name can take advantage of this opportunity and freely "appropriate" your domain for unscrupulous purposes.

How to avoid such situations?

First of all, note the expected expiration date of your trademark certificate. You can find it using the Special Information System of Ukrpatent, in field (181). If there are less than six months left until the expiration date, initiate the renewal application immediately.

You can track your domain's expiration date in your personal account on the registrar's website or through the WHOIS service. For a .UA domain, the maximum expiration date is 10 years.

For detailed information regarding TM and the .UA domain, please contact our lawyers for a free consultation.NIC.UA.