A Russian court has ordered the domain to be returned to its owner.

A Russian arbitration court has ruled that a trademark has higher priority than a domain name, even if the domain was registered before the trademark.

This precedent arose during the consideration of a lawsuit filed by Inter Electric LLC, the owner of the INTER ELECTRIC trademark, against Inter Electric LLC, the owner of the previously registered domain interelektrik.ru.

The court banned the use of the domain interelektrik.ru as one that violates the rights of Inter Electric LLC.

This decision was made despite the fact that the domain was registered before the trademark. According to Russian law, a domain is not a means of individualization, whereas a trademark is. The registration date of the domain and trademark is irrelevant in such disputes.