Registry only obliged to verify rights to names and trademarks in exceptional cases

Last Thursday, in what is regarded as a landmark judgement, the First Civil Division of the German Supreme Court (BGH) ruled that it is permissible for DENIC to continue to register domains in accordance with the priority principle and that it is not obliged itself to check whether any registration might infringe the rights of others. It is only in exceptional cases, in which the infringement of rights is manifest, that DENIC must intervene. In the view of the court, however, this condition would only be met by a final and absolute court judgement or a comparable legal title.

In welcoming yesterday's judgment, Stephan Welzel, the head of DENIC's legal department, comments that "the Supreme Court confirms the line that DENIC has been pursuing in the interests of all the Internet users who want to complete domain registration quickly ,simply and cheaply. So, this judgment is a splendid success not only for DENIC but for the whole Internet Community in Germany."

The case referred to the Supreme Court concerned the domain called 'ambiente.de', to which the original plaintiff, Messe Frankfurt GmbH, had claimed to own trademark or equivalent rights. It had chosen, however, to take the matter to court against DENIC – and not the then holder of the domain. The plaintiff set out to get the courts to force DENIC to transfer the domain, since the holder was refusing to release it to Messe Frankfurt voluntarily. DENIC had refused, since there was no enforceable legal title against the domain holder – a view that was confirmed by the Frankfurt court of appeals. Messe Frankfurt then further appealed to the highest court of the land, where it has lost yet again.