Check .lt domain

How to reduce the possibility of the disputes regarding .lt second level domain name?

The following criteria are applied in the dispute resolution regarding the domain name: violation of the prior rights, illegal interest in the name or bad faith while registering and using the domain name.

The violation of the prior rights can occur in two ways:

• Cybersquatting, i.e., registration of alien trademarks or misleadingly similar labels as own domain names without any legitimate interest. In such a case the abusive behaviour is justified as “first come, first served” which does not exempt the domain holder from the liability for the violation of the prior rights, if any;
• Reverse domain name hijacking, i.e., using the regulation in bad faith to attempt to deprive a domain holder of a registered domain name. For example, in the civil proceedings No. 2-3736-585 / 2016 processed by Vilnius Regional Court, the claim against the domain holder submitted by the legal entity with regards to the obligation to transfer the domain which name is identical to the claimant’s name was rejected because the title of the legal entity was composed when the domain with the same name had already existed.

To reduce the possibility of the dispute regarding the domain name:

• The persons who want to create .lt second level domain have to make sure they have not violated the prior rights when composing a domain name. For example, perform the search of the label used in the domain name in the national, European Union and international (which protection is expanded in the territory of Lithuania) databases (vpb.lrv.lt/lt/veiklos-sritys/prekiu-zenklai/prekiu-zenklu-paieska/ ) and in the Register of Legal Entities (www.registrucentras.lt/jar/p_en/ );
• The persons who apply to register a trademark or establish a legal entity in Lithuania have to make sure there are no existing domain names containing such label in .lt WHOIS database www.domreg.lt/en/services/whois;
• It is advisable for the owners of the registered trademarks with labels that are artificially created (for example, “kosmada”, “wizzair”) or original composites of the commonly used words (for example, “pieno žvaigždės”, “batų kalnas”) to create .lt second level domain with identical name so that the label would not be vacant on the internet;
• The owners of the registered trademarks which labels consist of the individual commonly used words (for example, “švyturys”, “ji”) have to establish .lt second level domain with the same name, because there is no priority right for the use of the commonly used words on the internet;
• The establishers of legal entities are recommended to establish a domain which name contains the name of the legal entity;
• The holders of the “incorrectly spelled” domain names, when domain name contains the commonly used words with no registered prior rights, are recommended to establish a domain which name is written in characteristic Lithuanian letters to avoid the disputes regarding the misleading similarity of domain names. And vice versa – the holders of the correctly spelled domain names should also establish a domain with “incorrectly spelled” name;
• Domain holders should use the domains, i.e., link them to their active websites publishing the information on the actual purpose of the domain creation, create and use the email, etc.

Bad faith of the domain holder may be revealed by his / her actions, for example, making a proposal to acquire the domain to the holder of the prior rights aiming to gain commercial benefits; domain’s redirection to the website of the competitor of the prior rights’ holder aiming to put flawed pressure to acquire the domain, etc.