The Internet Commerce Association (ICA) has announced it has named an award in memory and honor of domain investor Lonnie Borck, who unexpectedly passed away in October at the age of 47. The Lonnie Borck Memorial Award will be given annually to recognize an individual or organization for extraordinary efforts in championing the rights of domain name owners.
The ICA Board of Directors, along with the consensus of the ICA membership, selected David Weslow of Wiley Rein as the first recipient of the Lonnie Borck Memorial Award. In announcing the recipient of this year’a award, the ICA Board made note of David’s “dedication and persistence in his pro bono representation of Heidi Powell in the HeidiPowell.com dispute.” You can read more about this legal dispute on USA Today and Domain Name Wire.
Nat Cohen, an ICA board member, shared some thoughts about Lonnie and this new award:
Lonnie gave so much of himself to help others, and his passing is a great loss. The ICA hopes it is fitting to memorialize this spirit of Lonnie with an award that recognizes those who have selflessly given to the domain community, of which Lonnie was a beloved member.
When David Weslow learned of an egregious case of bullying directed at a domain owner without the financial resources to defend herself in court, he put his time, energy and reputation on the line, without asking for compensation, to stand up against this injustice. For this public service, the ICA membership overwhelmingly supported David as a worthy recipient of the first Lonnie Borck Memorial Award.
The Lonnie Borck Memorial Award will be presented during the ICA’s session at NamesCon, “Most Shocking UDRP Decisions of 2016“. This session will be held Monday, January 23rd at 12pm. Some of Lonnie’s family will be in attendance, and it will be my honor to say a few words about Lonnie during the presentation. I know it runs against a couple of other great panels, but I am sure it would be meaningful to Lonnie’s family if you are able to fit the award presentation into your schedule.
