---
title: "Domain Name Disputes"
url: "https://legal.ge/en/service/healthcare-and-pharmaceutical-law-en/domain-name-disputes-en"
field: "Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Law"
description: "Domain name disputes in Georgia: trademark protection, confusion, the 5-year non-use cancellation rule and infringement remedies. Legal.ge."
reviewed: "2026-07-09"
updated: "2026-10-14"
publisher: "legal.ge"
---

# Domain Name Disputes

> Source: legal.ge, https://legal.ge/en/service/healthcare-and-pharmaceutical-law-en/domain-name-disputes-en

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.

The full text is available on legal.ge after signing in: https://legal.ge/en/service/healthcare-and-pharmaceutical-law-en/domain-name-disputes-en

### Can trademark protection extend to a domain?

Yes. Article 6 allows the holder to prohibit use in civil circulation of a confusingly similar sign, including use as a firm name — a form applied to the domain context.

### How is the conflict assessed?

By the logic of Article 5: earlier priority, identity or similarity of signs, and likelihood of confusion including through association. Well-known marks are protected regardless of the list of goods.

### What can be claimed from an infringer?

Under Article 45 — cessation, deletion of internet materials, damages, disgorgement of revenues or a lump-sum compensation no less than a hypothetical licence fee.

### What role does non-use of a mark play?

Continuous non-use for 5 years is a ground for court cancellation under Article 27 — an effective instrument against squatting.