Momentum’s Digital Marketing & gTLD Strategy Congress – UK Edition is quickly approaching

Reserve your space now to meet and benchmark with senior executives responsible for digital marketing, brand management, internet strategy, communications and trademark protection as you gain innovative and forward thinking strategies for ensuring your brand is best positioned to remain competitive in a post-gTLD environment.

Below is just a sample of those companies who will be in attendance at Momentum's Digital Marketing & gTLD Strategy Congress in London on September 26-27 - don’t miss out on this unparalleled learning and networking experience.

Look Who’s Attending: http://momentumevents.co/gtldattending

Regardless of whether your organisation has applied for a TLD (top level domain) or not, Brands must understand and plan for the impact that the introduction of a thousand new gTLDs will have on your global digital marketing and brand management strategy.

Learn how to preserve and maximize the value of your brand as you engage with fellow industry leaders during interactive sessions covering:

• How to Ensure Your New TLD Becomes Your Company’s Smartest Marketing Investment
• New Capability Opportunities for Your Registry to Use Your .BRAND to Your Digital Advantage
• Practical Strategies for Ensuring Seamless User Navigation to Your New TLD
• Strategies for New gTLD Integration Across Multiple Media Platforms
• Search and String Logic – Ensuring Visibility & Driving Traffic to Your New TLD

Benefit from special case study sessions featuring insights from industry leaders entrenched in the gTLD landscape including:

• Peter LaMantia, CEO, Authentic Web Inc.
• Rich Merdinger, Vice President of Domains, GoDaddy.com
• Tony Kirsch, Senior Manager, International Business Development, ARI Registry Services
• Charlie Abrahams, VP & GM EMEA, MarkMonitor
• Roland LaPlante, SVP, Chief Marketing Officer, Afilias
• Jennie-Marie Larsen, CEO, Domain Diction
• Kathy Nielsen, Head of Business Development, New gTLDs, Sedo

Download the brochure and register now to reserve your space at this industry leading event. For more information, visit us online at www.gtldworldcongress.com or call +1 (646) 807-8555.

Lawsuit against Domain Venture Partners dismissed

Domain Venture Partners can report that a lawsuit brought against it by Mr David E Ways in 2012 was dismissed on 16th August 2013.

“Domain Venture Partners is pleased that this claim has been dismissed” said Iain Roache, chairman of Domain Venture Partners.

• Read the official announcement here;
• Download the official dismissal here;
• Article about the story published in Domain Name Wire : "Man claims he and friends were duped for $123,000 in new top level domain scheme".

« .vin » « .wine»: Internet domain names’ battle continues

No concrete response from the candidates to the wine sector

In Durban on 18 July, the GAC had given one month to the wine sector and to the candidates of the ".wine" and ".vin" strings to find an agreement. None of the three candidates has engaged with the sector to find concrete solutions and, moreover, political pressure was exerted to prevent an agreement to be reached. Given these circumstances, the European wine sector calls upon ICANN for more time and asks that the strings not to be assigned to the candidates until an agreement has been found. The European wine sectors asks ICANN and the GAC to be firm and continues to threaten to boycott these strings and to take legal action.

The extension of strings related to the wine sector is still a matter of debate. After expressing strong reservations in April on the ".wine" and ".vin", the GAC in Durban (18 July) gave a month to the wine sector and to the 3 candidate companies to find an agreement. 

Since, the wine sector has made considerable efforts to interact with the candidates to find a solution to protect Geographical Indication (GI) wine names. A month has passed and all the candidates have given very vague answers to wine producers; none wanting at this stage to find concrete solutions. This is also the result of strong political pressure that are exerted to prevent an agreement to be reached. EFOW, the European federation of origin wines, has sent a letter to the ICANN Board asking for more time and to suspend all procedures leading to the extension of ".wine" and ".vin" strings until an agreement between the parties is found.

EFOW recalls that it will support the extension of these domain names as soon as rules ensuring the protection of GI wine names will be defined. "The wine sector has strongly benefited from trade globalization and the development of the Internet. Nevertheless, there needs to be a minimum set of rules" says the President of EFOW, Mr. Riccardo Ricci Curbastro. "We know that some actors do not share this point of view and work to prevent the definition of rules, including the respect of Intellectual Property Rights. The success of these domain names relies heavily on the support of the sector. We are open to dialogue.

However, if we are not listened to, we will not doubt to call for a boycott of these domain names and to take legal action". The wine sector expects a strong signal from ICANN and the GAC.

Governance Council launched for .BID gTLD

Council Members sought to help guide .BID Top Level Domain
Dot Bid Limited, the sole applicant for the .BID new generic Top Level Domain (gTLD), today announced that it is seeking representatives interested in participating in a Governance Council for the gTLD .BID.

“The rise in popularity of market place sites such as ebay, Alibaba, and Mercado Libre has meant that bidding online for goods and services around the world is nearly as natural as buying a Newspaper” said Iain Roache of Dot Bid Limited. “With over 112 million users on eBay alone, having a dedicated virtual space for auction platforms, market place sites and individual buyers and sellers provides a beacon for an enormous, self-selecting, trusted user base ready to buy and sell virtually anything online.”

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is enabling an expansion of the Internet’s real estate to include just about any domain name extension including .BID.

To help guide the development and direction of the .BID gTLD, Dot Bid Limited is creating a Governance Council to help advise on best practice for operation and policy of the Top Level Domain including abuse prevention and mitigation, intellectual property rights protection, gTLD operating rules, reserved second-level domain names, certification or authentication programmes, and compliance.

“We are reaching out to all parties that have an interest in buying and selling online across the entire spectrum of auctions” continued Roache, “from English auctions to penny auctions, across a range of general markets and niche genres, and the more traditional offline auction houses. All interested parties are invited to contribute to the .BID Governance Council, helping to shape the online auction space now and into the future.”

If you are interested in participating to the .BID governance council simply visit www.governancecouncils.com/bid. Expressions of interest will be accepted at this site for several months, with on-going communications sent to interested parties prior to the Governance Council launch.

About Governance Councils
Governance Councils owe their existence to Internet expansion efforts that began years ago. In 2005, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) began studying whether to introduce new generic top-level domains (gTLDs). Governance Councils were set up to create a mechanism by which governments, corporations and individuals around the world could influence and ensure that the Internet was being used for the broader benefit of the Internet users

About Domain Venture Partners
Domain Venture Partners was founded to create a bridge between the demand for and supply of finance, and the provision of technical support in relation to ICANN’s new generic Top Level Domain (TLD) name process. It has since evolved to become the only regulated structured investment fund group, for experienced investors to benefit from returns generated by investing in and managing TLD registries. DVP provides investors with a clean and direct access to an uncorrelated asset class, which would ordinarily be out of the reach of individual investors.

About Iain Roache
Iain Roache spent his early career in investment banking, structuring and marketing derivatives with Nomura, Kleinwort Benson and Merryl Lynch. Moving into strategy consulting, Iain led London the Investment Banking Practice at AT Kearney. In 1998 Iain Roache became managing director and member of the European Board of Cisco Systems, where he was responsible for developing and implementing the EMEA Mergers & Acquisitions process.

Since 2010, Iain has worked in relation to the establishment of Domain Venture Partners PCC Limited and is a Director of Domain Management Limited. Iain Roache holds a Bsc (Econ.) First Class, London School of Economics, specialising in Accounting and Finance.

".VIN" et ".WINE": EFOW et CNAOC souhaitent soutenir les bonnes candidatures

Lors de la dernière réunion de l'Icann à Durban en juillet, le GAC avait donné un mois au secteur du vin et aux candidats aux ".vin" et ".wine" pour s'entendre. Constatant qu'aucun des 3 candidats n'a accepté de dialoguer de solutions concrètes et que des pressions ont été exercées pour empêcher la recherche d'un accord, le secteur européen du vin demande à l'Icann de donner un délai supplémentaire aux candidats et de ne pas attribuer ces noms de domaine tant qu'un accord n'aura pas été trouvé. Les producteurs de vins appellent l'Icann et le GAC à faire preuve de fermeté et continuent de menacer de mettre en place un boycott et d'engager des poursuites judiciaires.

L'attribution des noms de domaine de premier niveau liés au secteur du vin continue de faire débat. Après avoir exprimé en avril de vives réserves sur l'attribution des noms « .vin » et « .wine », le GAC lors de la réunion de l'Icann à Durban le 18 juillet dernier a donné un mois au secteur du vin et aux 3 sociétés candidates pour s'entendre. Le secteur européen du vin a déployé de nombreux efforts depuis pour engager un dialogue et trouver une solution permettant de protéger les noms des vins d'origine. Un mois s'est écoulé et les producteurs constatent que les seules réponses qui leur sont faites sont des réponses de principe et qu'aucun des candidats n'accepte à ce stade d'aller plus loin. Cette situation est à rapprocher des pressions politiques qui sont exercées pour empêcher la conclusion d'un accord. Les organisations européennes et françaises représentantes les vins d'origine, EFOW et CNAOC, viennent d'adresser ce jour un courrier aux dirigeants de l'Icann. Elles demandent qu'un délai supplémentaire soit donné aux candidats et que l'attribution des noms de domaine ".vin" et ".wine" soit suspendue tant qu'un accord n'aura pas été trouvé entre les parties.

Les organisations rappellent qu'elles sont prêtes à soutenir ces noms de domaine à partir du moment où seront prévues des règles permettant de protéger les noms des vins d'origine. "S'il y a un secteur qui sait ce que sont les avantages de la mondialisation des échanges et du développement d'Internet, c'est le nôtre. Mais cela ne peut pas se faire sans un minimum de règles" déclarent les présidents d'Efow et de la Cnaoc, Riccardo Ricci Curbastro et Bernard Farges. "Nous savons que certains ne partagent pas ce point de vue et œuvrent pour empêcher la définition de règles assurant notamment le respect des droits de la propriété intellectuelle. Le succès de ces noms de domaine repose en très grande partie sur le soutien du secteur. Nous sommes toujours disponibles pour le dialogue. Mais nous sommes aussi prêts si nous ne sommes pas entendus à appeler à un boycott de ces noms de domaine et à engager des procédures judiciaires". Les organisations attendent désormais un signal fort de l'Icann et du GAC.

Rappel du contexte:

L'attribution de noms de domaine de premier niveau ".vin" et ".wine" par l'Icann soulève de vifs débats dans le secteur du vin. Les producteurs de vins d'origine reprochent en effet aux 3 candidats de ne prévoir aucune règle de protection des noms des vins pour la vente de noms de domaine de second niveau (ex "bordeaux.vin"; "rioja.wine"; "chianti.wine" etc). Ils dénoncent les risques que cela ferait peser sur le consommateur (tromperie avec la vente sur des sites comportant des noms d’appellation de vins n'ayant aucun lien avec la région, détournement de notoriété avec utilisation des noms de grands vins, contrefaçon etc) et sur les opérateurs du secteur (racket avec rachat de noms de domaine). Le débat plus large qui est posé est celui du respect de la propriété intellectuelle sur Internet.

Letter sent by Napa Valley Vintners regarding .WINE & .VIN new gTLDs

This letter, from Bruce Cakebread - President of NapaValley Vintners - was just sent to Mr. Crocker:

The Napa Valley Vintners, the non-profit trade association representing nearly 500 Napa Valiey wineries, is concerned with how the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) expansion of generic top level domains may negatively impact our association’s ability to protect the Napa Valley name from fraudulent use.

A prestigious place that has earned a worldwide reputation for producing top quality wines, the Napa Valley wine industry accounts for an annual economic impact on the US economy of more than $50 billion annually and tens of thousands of jobs.

Wine is an agricultural product inextricably tied to its place of origin. The Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) aggressively works to ensure labels on bottles of wine are truthful and accurate as to the appellation of origin of that wine. Consumers rely on this information to make informed purchasing decisions. We have had to fight to protect our name from misuse both in the US and around the world from those that would like to trade on our renown with inferior wines that derives from elsewhere.

As lCANN prepares for the largest-ever expansion of the domain name system, the NVV is fearful of the new opportunities provided therein by nefarious actors intending to misappropriate the Napa Valley brand, specifically as it relates to ".wine "and even “.vin.”

It is our understanding that agreements associated with this expansion will prohibit operators of gTLDs from registering country and territory narnes recognized by the UN in front of the extensions “.wine” and “.vin.” Hence, the registration of “US.wine" would be protected, but “Napa.wine” could be registered by any entity for any purpose. Protection is necessary at the secondarv-level since registrars can commercialize the strings therefore allowing individuals or organizations to combine both gTLDs with a second-level domain name to create web addresses like “napa.wine” or “sonoma.wine” or many other combinations from both the US and other prominent wine regions around the world.

If this is allowed to go forward, our 500 winery members and legitimate wine producers worldwide would undoubtedly face cases of cybersquatting; damage to their regional brand; lack of consumer trust and potential overall loss of brand value.

Considering the clear importance that the names “Napa” and “Napa Valley” have for brand, region and industry, and give the lack of legal tools that would allow our organization to protect our names proposed by applicants to the “’.wine” and “.vin" strings, we urge lCANN to take into consideration the advice received from its Governmental Advisory Committee and not proceed with these strings beyond initial evaluation.

As consumers turn more frequently to the internet for information, the NVV believes that adequate safeguards need to be put in place to protect wine growing place names before approving “.wine” and "vin.” if we can have a role in shaping this policy decision, or be otherwise helpful, pilease don’t hesitate its contact me.

En Français: Synthèse d'activités pour le secteur Commercial (ICANN 47 - Durban)

ICANN 47 Synthèse d'activités pour le secteur commercial from ICANN for Business

Decision of .MUSIC Legal Rights Objection (LRO) in favor of Famous Four Media.

dot Music Limited (FFM - Gibraltar) vs DotMusic Limited (Cyprus)

“For all the foregoing reasons, the Panel rejects the Objection.”

Respondent Famous Four Media from Gibraltar favored.

Pursuant to Article 21(g) of the Procedure, the Expert Determination shall be published on the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center’s website.

The WIPO Center will directly contact the prevailing Party, as determined by the Panel, with regard to refund pursuant to Article 14(e) of the Procedure.

Download the decision here.