A Russian court has protected brands from squatters.

According to the decision of the Moscow Arbitration Court, the registration and administration of a domain name similar to a trademark constitutes a violation of the rights to it.

This decision was made regarding the domain name swatch.ru. The lawsuit was filed by Swatch AG (owner of the SWATCH trademark).

According to the court ruling, the domain owner, R. Kazakbaev, is obliged to transfer it to the company “Swatch AG” and additionally pay compensation in the amount of 10 thousand ($335).

During the court hearings, the company's lawyers demonstrated that failure to use this domain name online directly resulted in losses for the company, as it misled consumers and created the impression that the company's products were unavailable in Russia. This could be equated to the dissemination of negative information about the company.

Furthermore, the owner of the swatch.ru domain does not own the trademark, trade name, or trade name SWATCH, meaning it has no legal right to use this trademark.

This ruling could set a precedent for future litigation where companies can assert their rights against cybersquatters based on ownership of a registered trademark.