ICA Seeking Nominations for 2019 Lonnie Borck Memorial Award

October 19, 2018

Shortly after the unexpected passing of Lonnie Borck, the Internet Commerce Association (ICA) created a domain industry award in his memory. The inaugural award was presented to David Weslow ofWiley Rein, and this year’s award was given to Kathy Kleiman.

The ICA is currently seeking nominations for the 2019 Lonnie Borck Memorial Award. Here’s a description of the Award:

“The Lonnie Borck Memorial Award is granted to an individual for indelible contribution to domain investor rights, and we invite you all to take part in the process and submit your suggestions for the nominees. The nomination process is open to the entire domain name community.”

Nominations will be accepted until November 1st. The ICA Board of Directors will review the nominations and vote on the winner. The Award will be presented during the NamesCon conference in January.

If you know of someone who has made a lasting contribution to protecting and enabling the rights of domain name investors, you should think about submitting a nomination. There are quite a few people that go above and beyond to help protect the rights of domain investors, and it is nice that we can honor them. I already know who I am going to nominate.

Not a week goes by that I don’t think about Lonnie. It’s nice to see this Award being given to someone deserving.

Complainants Winning More at WIPO Each Year, But…

Elliot Silver

July 31, 2018

Earlier this morning, I published a poll asking readers about the results of UDRP proceedings to gauge if readers think outcomes have recently been shifting more in favor of domain investors when it comes to valuable (generic / acronym) domain names. So far, it looks like approximately 2/3 of readers who voted in the poll believe domain registrants are faring better now than they did in prior years.

I did some researching using DNDisputes.com, and I was able to find some facts about how UDRP results have changed over the years at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). WIPO is the largest UDRP provider, and DNDisputes.com primarily archives decisions from WIPO.

Using DNDisputes.com, I shared the percentage of complaints denied (meaning the domain registrant won) since 2008:

Zak Muscovitch Unanimously Appointed General Counsel of the ICA

Elliot Silver

May 8, 2018

When Phil Corwin left the Internet Commerce Association (ICA), domain industry attorney and ICA member Zak Muscovitch stepped up into the role of General Counsel on an interim basis. According to an email I received this morning, Zak has been unanimously approved by the ICA’s Board of Directors as the organization’s General Counsel.

I think this is great news for domain investors. Not only is Zak looked upon as one of the smartest intellectual property attorneys with a focus on the domain name space, but Zak also has a stellar reputation among his peers outside of the domain industry. He has been advocating on behalf of domain name owners and investors, and it is great that the interim label has been removed from the title.

I reached out to Zak to ask about how this role will impact his law practice, and here’s what he shared with me

Dribbble Loses Effort to Get Dribble.com via UDRP

Elliot Silver

April 30, 2018

A company called Dribbble (notice the 3 “b’s” in its branding) filed a UDRP to try and wrest control of the Dribble.com domain name, which had been owned by the registrant since 1997. As I suspected when I saw the initial UDRP filing, the domain owner won the UDRP proceeding and will be allowed to retain the domain name.

The domain owner has owned Dribble.com for many years. According to the decision, “When the Complaint was filed, the disputed domain name resolved to a website which essentially consisted of pay-per-click links for services such as logo design, website design, illustration design, flyer design, graphic design and the like.” In a UDRP though, the complainant must prove that the domain name was registered and is being used in bad faith. The first part of that would seem to be impossible given the registration date and the date Dribbble was founded.

Here’s what the panel ruled:

How Does Whois Data Help Your Business?

Elliot Silver

March 15, 2018

Andrew Allemann has written about the pending changes to the Whois records system. I also wrote about the changes to Whois that will be necessary for domain registrars to comply with GDPR.

Without a doubt, changes to the Whois system is going to cause major issues for anyone who buys domain names that are registered, especially domain name investors. Not only will it likely become much harder to get in touch with domain name owners to make a purchase inquiry, but it could become more difficult to track the provenance of a domain name. This could effectively make it more risky to buy a domain name from a third party.

From my perspective, drastic changes to the Whois system

Video: Braden Pollock and Nat Cohen Discuss UDRP Reform

Elliot Silver

March 9, 2018

One of the biggest risks to domain name investors is a UDRP. Pretty much any company can file a UDRP against any domain name. Hiring a lawyer to fight a UDRP can be costly (perhaps less so than not hiring one), and even with top representation, a UDRP can be decided in favor of the complainant.

The Internet Commerce Association was created to fight for the rights and interests of domain name investors. The ICA has some great informational resources to assist domain name owners whose domain name is subject of a UDRP. The organization also makes efforts to ensure the UDRP process is fair for domain investors. In fact, it was the ICA that helped to discredit and eliminate the retroactive bad faith theory that impacted some high value domain names.

During NamesCon, Braden Pollock sat down with ICA Board Member Nat Cohen, and they chatted about the UDRP reform efforts current being undertaken by the ICA. The interview was sponsored, edited, and published by NamePros. It is absolutely worth 15 minutes of your time today.

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ICA

ICA Seeking Nominations for 2019 Lonnie Borck Memorial Award

Complainants Winning More at WIPO Each Year, But…

Zak Muscovitch Unanimously Appointed General Counsel of the ICA

Dribbble Loses Effort to Get Dribble.com via UDRP

How Does Whois Data Help Your Business?

Video: Braden Pollock and Nat Cohen Discuss UDRP Reform

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