The Appeal Court of Montenegro has upheld a previous ruling from the Commercial Court, denying the request of the company Domen to extend its management contract for the domain .me. This contract was originally established with the Government of Montenegro in 2008 and was set to expire at the end of March 2023. As a result of this ruling, the Ministry of Economic Development is expected to reinitiate the tender process for selecting a new registrar for the domain.
The decision confirms the Commercial Court’s judgment from October 2022, which rejected Domen’s application to validate the contract’s extension. The Appeal Court stated that the company failed to provide a formal notice of intent to extend the contract as required by Article 8 of the registration agreement for the .me domain. Instead, Domen submitted an email that was deemed unrelated to the contractual obligations, which was sent during an event titled “Open with the Prime Minister.”
As a consequence of the ruling, the previous tender process for a new registrar, initiated under former Minister Goran Đurović, was halted due to a temporary measure requested by Domen. The current Minister of Economic Development, Nik Đeljošaj, has yet to provide clarity on the next steps regarding the selection of a new registrar, including whether a new tender will be announced and what its conditions will entail.
In a previous statement, Đeljošaj indicated that the legal dispute must be resolved before any new contract can be finalized. Over the past 16 years, the Montenegrin government has reportedly earned more than €40 million in revenue from the .me domain, with €3.14 million contributed to the budget in 2023 alone.
The Appeal Court noted that negotiations between Domen and the government regarding the potential extension of the contract were conducted prior to its expiration, but they did not lead to an agreement. Predrag Lesić, the Director of Domen, testified that he had personally drafted a letter of intent to extend the contract, which was forwarded to the Prime Minister’s advisor, Ilija Mugoša, prior to the aforementioned event.
During the court proceedings, Lesić stated that following Dritan Abazović‘s appointment as Prime Minister, the meeting provided an opportunity to raise the topic of contract extension. However, he admitted that Abazović did not provide a definitive response regarding the extension.
Representatives of the state argued that any notice of intent should have been directly submitted to the government, the contracting party, rather than through intermediary channels.
In earlier sessions, Abazović indicated that he was unaware of the email’s content but acknowledged discussions with Domen representatives during the AmCham event. He underscored the need for improved terms for the government, citing a significant increase in internet users, yet refrained from making any promises about extending the contract.
Former Minister Đurović testified that his ministry conducted an analysis of the situation with Domen and received a proposal for an annex that did not offer any benefits for the state. He expressed the belief that Domen was not genuinely interested in extending the contract, as they failed to demonstrate a serious approach to negotiations.
Despite Domen initially securing a temporary injunction to prevent the tender process from proceeding, this measure was later dismissed by the judges of the Commercial Court. They determined that preventing the government from selecting a new registrar would interfere with the management of electronic communications and the national internet domain, which serves the public interest.
The ruling from the Appeal Court marks a significant moment in the ongoing dispute over the .me domain, leaving the future of its management uncertain as the government prepares to move forward with the tender process.
