Facebook is demanding the Russian payment system Zolotaya Korona hand over the facebook.ru domain name, which it has held since 2005, the Kommersant daily reported Monday.
In an Aug. 28 letter to Zolotaya Korona’s owner, Facebook demanded it give up the trademark by Sept. 30, according to the letter obtained by the newspaper.
The social network giant said it learned that facebook.ru belongs to the Center of Financial Technologies (CFT Group) solutions and service provider because the domain automatically forwards users to the Zolotaya Korona website.
As of Monday morning, Facebook.ru forwarded users to the payment system’s website.
The U.S. social media company cites a trademark infringement clause of the Russian Civil Code.
CFT Group told Kommersant that Facebook nor “any other person” had laid claim to the domain in 12 years. It did not explain why it obtained the facebook.ru domain in 2005.
Facebook, which declined to comment on Kommersant’s story, appeared in Russia in 2008. In 2016, it was estimated to have 11 million users in Russia.
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