INTA Annual Meeting 2016, Orlando, May 21-25

International Trademark Association INTA Annual Meeting 2016, Orlando 21-25 May:

Highlighted sessions:

Tuesday, May 24, 10:15-11:30: CT03 Making Money on .Generic Domain Names "Sure, the business model for .brands is self-evident, a safe secure ecosystem designed to protect consumers from confusion and a platform for innovative interactions between brands and their customers. But haven’t you wondered how new gTLD registries with .generic terms will make money?  It’s not like we were all clamoring for more domain names and it’s not as if .info and .biz really hit it out of the ballpark. Well, we have invited some of the best and brightest of the business folks running new .generic gTLD registries to come to the Annual Meeting and clue us in on how they plan to turn these registries into money makers."
Moderators: Paul McGrady, Winston & Strawn LLP (United States); Stacey King, Amazon Inc. (United States)
Speakers:
Benjamin Crawford, CentralNic Plc (United Kingdom)
Frank Schilling, Uniregistry (Cayman Islands)
Daniel Schindler, Donuts (United States)

Monday, May 23, 11:45 am–1:00 pm: IM20 Internet/E-Commerce Industry Breakout: Beyond Trademarks—The Latest Challenges for Trademark Lawyers in Dealing with ICANN, New gTLDs, and the New Internet Landscape "The new online landscape is one in which mobile is king, a proliferation of apps compete with thousands of new domain names for traffic, and where the central organization governing the Internet is undergoing a significant transition away from US government oversight. This brave new world need not be intimidating, however. Our expert panel of Internet lawyers will guide us through a number of topics, including: 

• Opportunities and enforcement challenges presented by new gTLDs/ccTLDs.
• Defensive domain registration strategies.
• Involvement in ICANN for TM lawyers.
• Role of governments in Internet governance and e-commerce.
• Implications of an increasingly mobile-centric Internet." 

Moderator: Ellen B. Shankman, Ellen Shankman & Associates (Israel)
Speakers:
Andrew Abrams, Google (United States)
Sheri Falco, ICM Registry LLC (United States)
Stacey King, Amazon.com, Inc. (United States)
Michele Neylon, Blacknight Internet Solutions Ltd (Ireland)
Nick Wood, Com Laude (United Kingdom)

Sunday 11:30 am–12:45 pm: China Trademark Association Panel "... updates on Chinese trademark office practices from Chinese government officials and association leaders."

Sunday, May 22, 2:30 pm–3:45 pm: Free Speech and Trademark Law:  A Survey of Recent and Relevant Cases from United States, Japan and Norway Concerning Speech, Expression and Trademark Protection  "... recent trademark decisions, future trends, and their most important and news-worthy decisions of the past year concerning free speech rights, property rights in trademarks, political and commercial speech." 

Monday, May 23, 10:15 am–11:30 am: CM03 Nontraditional Trademarks, Innovation, and Competition: Friends or Foes? "In addition to words, names, logos, and product packaging, governments around the world are increasingly allowing registration and protection of nontraditional trademarks (also known as trade dress) such as product configurations, colors, scents, sounds, tastes, textures and motions. As these signs can identify and distinguish goods and services, brands can benefit from registering and enforcing rights in such innovative types of trademarks. Yet protection of nontraditional trademarks may also significantly hinder competition and communication in the marketplace ..."

#INTA16 Tweets

See also:

• Trademarks and Gators: 10 Tips to Survive and Thrive at the INTA Annual Meeting in Orlando | JDSupra.com
• Why Did ICANN Become a Member of Trademark Lobbyist Group INTA? | DomainMondo.com

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DISCLAIMER

INTA 2015 Annual Meeting, San Diego, Domain Name Issues

Above video about last year's INTA 2014 Annual Meeting held in Hong Kong

The 2015 Annual Meeting (137th) of INTA, the International Trademark Association, is being held in San Diego, California, from May 2 through May 6, 2015. Most meeting events will be held at the San Diego Convention Center (SDCC), located downtown on the harbor at 111 W. Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92101.

Domain Name issues, including ICANN's new gTLD domains, are among topics being discussed at this year's meeting:

Sunday:
TS13 Investing in Signal vs. Noise: Domain Name Strategies in a New gTLD Landscape - Jeremiah Johnston, Sedo.com, LLC (United States)

TS03 Anti-Cybersquatting (Domain Name) Enforcement Strategies - Steve M. Levy, FairWinds Partners LLC (United States)

TS55 Controlling Domain Name Registrars - Alvaro Ramirez-Bonilla, B&R Latin America IP LLC (Colombia) (In English, Spanish and French)

Monday:
TM04 Domain Name Registry and Registrar Liability: Recent Developments, Cases and Best Practices - David E. Weslow, Wiley Rein LLP (United States)

TM56 Developments in New gTLD's - Eric Macramalla, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP (Canada)

TM78 Update on New Generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) and Strategic Advice on How to Deal with Them - David Taylor, Hogan Lovells (Paris) LLP (France)

Tuesday:
TT30 WIPO Update on UDRP Precedent and Rights Protection in an Expanding Domain Name System - Erik Wilbers, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) (Switzerland)

Wednesday:
TW19 New gTLD's Round 2: What Lessons Did We Learn from the First Round of gTLD Applications - Stuart Fuller, NetNames (United Kingdom)

TW70 Reflections on the New gTLD Program From an Applicant and/or Brand Holder's Perspective - Aimee Merriman Nolan, W.W. Grainger, Inc. (United States)

TW50 "You are S?" How to Deal with all the New Domain Name Dispute Resolutions - Petter Rindforth, Fenix Legal KB (Sweden)

TW63 Management of Trademarks and Domain Name vs. Financial Issues when Transferring or Licensing - Claire Bernier, Bersay & Associes (France)

TW58 ICANN Contractual Compliance for Trademark Practitioners - Owen Smigelski, ICANN (United States)

Internet Committee – Domain Disputes, Ownership and Whois Subcommittee
Internet Committee – Internet Policy Advocacy Subcommittee

IT50 Industry Breakout Session: Hot Trademark Challenges That Keep Telecom Lawyers Up at Night - Advanced Level: Telecommunications companies have some of the most famous brands in the world, and they are often at the front lines of cutting-edge IP policy issues that are of key interest to the INTA membership. Come hear what keeps trademark practitioners in this space up at night. The panel will cover such hot topics as:

• New global infringement challenges telecom companies are facing, including country-specific challenges and successful enforcement strategies.

• Concerns about the rollout of new gTLDs, including those gTLDs related to telecommunications services and regulated services as well as gTLDs that are facilitating consumer confusion.

• Discussion of new case law and experiences with various registries and registrars in addressing an increase in phishing, cybersquatting and related frauds.

• Ideas for adopting new best practices, legislation and other international vehicles to address cybersquatting, phishing, fraud and abuses.

Moderator: Sarah B. Deutsch (United States)

Speakers:

Katie E. Brennan, Norvell IP llc (United States)

David J. Cho, AT&T Services, Inc. (United States)

Elisa Cooper, MarkMonitor (United States)

#INTA15 Tweets

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Trademark counsel slam ICANN's new gTLD domain names

ICANN's new gTLD domain names -- "lots of cybersquatting, but not a lot of innovation" --

As reported yesterday in expVC.com, this week is the annual meeting of INTA (The International Trademark Association) in Hong Kong, and trademark counsel are ganging up on ICANN's new gTLD domain names --

Verizon counsel slams gTLD opportunists - Blog - World Trademark Review:“We have seen lots of cybersquatting but not a lot of innovation, which was one of the arguments for the new gTLDs programme”. So stated Sarah B Deutsch, vice president and associate general counsel for Verizon Communications, speaking at the INTA Annual Meeting earlier today, where she added: “We are seeing a steady flow of cybersquatters jumping in as new gTLDs roll out”. She therefore called on trademark counsel to record instances of abuse to inform later reviews of the gTLD programme... she urged brand owners to collect data on what has been registered as this will inform future discussions on trademark protections (an argument backed up by Covington & Burling’s Kristina Rosette, who noted: “There will be various upcoming reviews of the gTLD progamme and it is important that trademark owners not only participate, but have data on Sunrise participation, registrations and how much they have had to spend....” (read more at the World Trademark Review)

ICANN was warned about all of this, but apparently greed won out over common sense, the public interest, and trademarks. Unfortunately, another consequence of ICANN's misguided and ill-advised new gTLDs program is that this kind of blowback will also affect honest domain name investors and registrants, even in the legacy domains (.com, .net, and .org), with even more UDRP decisions which are abusive of registrants' rights.


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