A domain-name dispute — someone holding and using a domain built on your brand — is resolved in Georgian law not by a separate domain statute but by the general norms of intellectual property. The Law of Georgia on Trademarks supplies the machinery: the exclusive right, the criteria of confusion, the requirement of genuine use and the remedies for infringement. Here we examine how that machinery operates in domain disputes; international administrative practices are mentioned only as general information, while the legal analysis rests on the statute itself.
The Domain and the Trademark — the Legal Link
The foundation is Article 6: from the date of registration the holder acquires an exclusive right to the mark. The holder may prohibit a third party from using, without consent and in civil circulation, a sign identical to the protected mark with identical goods, identical with similar goods, or similar where confusion — including through association — arises.
The list of prohibited forms is broad: affixing the mark on goods or packaging; offering, storing, importing or exporting marked goods; using the mark for services, in advertising or on business papers; and — decisive for domain disputes — using the trademark as a firm name or part of it. On this last form the position rests: a brand name used as an internet address is treated as use of the sign in civil circulation.
When Is a Domain Conflicting
Article 5 sets out the relative grounds for refusal, and the same logic carries into domain conflicts: a mark is not registered where it is identical to an earlier mark for the same goods; identical to a third party’s earlier mark with goods so similar that confusion arises; or similar to an earlier mark where the goods are identical or similarly confusing, including through association.
Well-known marks receive separate protection: identity or similarity to a mark generally known in Georgia before the application is a ground of refusal even where the lists of goods differ. Reputable marks are protected too: use is refused where it unduly advantages the applicant or damages the mark’s reputation. Registering a domain on a known brand therefore cannot be justified by pointing to a different field of activity.