Case Law Details
Fees Received for Facilitating Registration of Domain Names (Trademark) Owned by Third Party, i.e., Customers Cannot be Treated as Royalty
Overview: Registration services provided by domain name registrars to its customers for registration of their particular trademark (domain name) cannot be considered as if the registrar has inferred any right or transferred any right to use such domain name to the customer. This has been held by High Court of Delhi in the case of Godaddy.Com LLC v. Assistant Commissioner of Income-tax [2023] 157 taxmann.com 256 (Delhi)[11-12-2023].
Facts of the case:
1. Assessee or the taxpayer, a resident of United States, is engaged in the business of providing domain name registration services to its customers.
2. Tax officer brought such fees received by the assessee as royalty stating that the taxpayer is providing domain registration services as right to use or the use of servers maintained by it.
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