Moderator Ellen B Shankman of Ellen Shankman & Associates says the growth of mobile apps and explosion of new gTLDs poses fundamental questions for domain name owners: “You need an entirely different kind of registration strategy. Everybody is now trying to work out what to do to the left of the dot.”
She says her panel will bring “a range of voices” to address the challenges for trademark owners. These comprise a brand owner with a registry business (Stacey King of Amazon), a leader in mobile apps (Andrew Abrams of Google), an adviser on new gTLDs (Nick Wood of Com Laude), an expert on protection in adult domains (Sheri Falco of ICM Registry) and a registrar (Michele Neylon of Blacknight Internet Solutions).
This year is finally set to see the transition of domain names to a new governance system, and that is likely to affect how key policy issues regarding how domain name disputes and IP protection are handled, as well as future rounds of gTLD launches (which more brand owners are expected to take part in).
The transition comes as the Internet landscape—which once simply consisted of registries, registrars and registrants—becomes more complex, says Shankman: “It used to be clear who wore the white hats and black hats, but now everyone is wearing multiple hats.” This is evident in ICANN’s complex multi-stakeholder decision-making system: brand owners, for example, may now be part of the IP Constituency, the Business Constituency and/or the Registries Stakeholder Group, while there is also a Brand Registry Group dedicated just to dot-brand registries. “There are no simple answers anymore,” says Shankman.
Find out more at 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, starting today at 11:45 am.
