On February 29, 2012 the VIII “Ukraine on the Road to Information Society” Congress took place in Kyiv. Every year the Ukrainian Internet Association (UIA) gathers key players in the market of Internet services, service providers, equipment manufacturers, software companies, representatives of state bodies of Ukraine in the sphere of information and communication technologies (ICT), the heads of the leading specialized professional associations and public organizations, representatives of international non-governmental organizations, analysts and consultants to discuss the main issues and key trends of the industry.

Oleksandr Mamunya, Counsellor at VKP’s Intellectual Property Practice, represented Vasil Kisil & Partners at the event.

Keen interest and active discussion focused around increasing public-private partnership in the information field, the interaction between the private sector and government to counter cyber threats, the lowering of the administrative and regulatory pressures on businesses, the development of self-regulation, as well as freedom of speech and human rights in today's information society.

Oleksandr Mamunya shared his expert opinion on certain features of intellectual property rights protection on the Internet. In particular, Oleksandr directed the audience’s attention to the issues related to the .UA domain. According to him, this domain has hardly developed over time, which affects both those who are doing business directly in the field of ICT and other businesses that use this domain, for example, for marketing purposes. The reason for this situation, according to experts, lies in the non-transparent rules that govern this sector, which in turn give rise to significant concerns from businesses related to the impossibility of effectively protecting their rights in this domain, in particular, against cyber squatters.

Another factor that complicates further Internet domain extension are significant changes made to the .UA domain rules on December 26, 2011. There were a few provisions excluded from the rules:
•              The process of domain delegation of the domain name;
•              The provision on the obligation of the Internet Registry to cancel the delegation of the domain name based on the court decision;
•              The provision on the obligation of the Internet Registry to reassign the domain name based on the court decision;
•              The section containing registration database of all .UA domains;
•              The section on Domain disputes and the list of links.

Thus, the current version of these rules ignores the resolution of domain disputes as such. However, such kind of disputes do exist, and the lack of clear regulation only increases the chances of such disputes, which casts doubt on the stability of this domain extension. Removal of the above provisions, according to Mr Mamunya is likely to have been undertaken to protect the administrator. However, this should not lead to the Administrator not dealing with these issues. According to Oleksandr, "the administrator must take an active part in outlining the regulation in most detail, including provisions relating to dispute resolution, so that both the administrator and other businesses that operate through the domain do not suffer due to lack of proper regulation. Moreover, this should be done publicly, openly, providing as much information as possible to all the parties involved."

“As a practicing lawyer I am all for the administrator to undertake a comprehensive review of the alternative domain dispute resolution options. But first, it would probably be advisable to introduce an alternative procedure, and only then to get rid of some of the regulating provisions, but not the other way around,"- said Mr Mamunya.

The main conditions for further development of the ICT market to date unanimously recognized by experts include progressive use of cloud technologies, increasing the capacity of telecommunication networks, as well as improving regulation of personal data protection.
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About the Firm
Established in 1992, Vasil Kisil & Partners is a Ukrainian law firm that delivers integrated legal advice in banking & finance, mergers & acquisitions, capital markets, antitrust, competition and trade, dispute resolution, tax law, energy and natural resources law, intellectual property law, labor and employment law, real estate and construction law, as well as PPP, concessions and infrastructure law.

The firm`s clients include such world-known companies as Alpcot Agro, Africa-Israel Group, Astellas Pharma, BASF, Bayer Consumer, BNP Paribas, British American Tobacco, Central European Media Enterprises, Coca Cola, Credit Agricole Group, Danone, Dell Inc., Du Pont, Energy Standard Group, Eurosport, Google, IKB Deutsche Industriebank, LG Electronics, Leroy Merlin Ukraine, Lukoil, Metso Automation Oy, Moody’s, Mott MacDonald Limited, NCH Capital, Novacke chemicke zavody, Opel, Philips, Pioneer, Red Bull, Russian Standard Bank, St. Sophia Homes, SEB AB, SEB Group, Swedbank AB, Seven Hills, Shell, Standard Charted Bank, Tchibo, UniCredit Group, Vanco International / Vanco Energy, Volkswagen, VympelCom, YouTube.