From Domain Tasting to Cybersquatting

Domain names, including a company's trademarks, represent its brand presence online. Worldwide, there are currently over one billion people on the Internet searching for goods and services and information about brand owners. These consumers spend hundreds of billions of dollars online every year.

There has also been an exponential increase in the number of incidences of cybersquatting — registration of domain names incorporating or confusingly similar to another's trademark — which results in consumer confusion, loss of sales, fraud, dilution, and increases business costs for trademark owners.

The bad actors involved are becoming more organized and are using increasingly sophisticated and automated means to both register domain names and display content that creates consumer confusion so that the domain owner can profit from the goodwill associated with others' trademarks.

Listen as our panel of intellectual property and Internet legal specialists examines cybersquatting and other online trademark abuses. The panel will offer their guidance on effective legal strategies to protect domain names from infringement and dilution.

The panel included:

Doug Isenberg, The GigaLaw Firm, Atlanta. He practices intellectual property and Internet law, and is an adjunct professor of computer and cyberspace law. He is a domain name panelist for the World Intellectual Property Organization. He also founded GigaLaw.com and serves as the website's editor and publisher.

Karol A. Kepchar, Partner, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Washington, D.C. She heads the firm's Trademark, Copyright and Internet Practice. She advises clients on a wide variety of issues, including domain name disputes and the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. She also counsels clients on ICANN arbitration procedures, privacy and data security issues, global and regional branding programs, licensing and strategic alliance agreements, and TTAB proceedings.

Richard G. Lyon, Of Counsel, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Dallas. He assists clients in litigation involving intellectual property issues and also serves as an arbitrator in domain name disputes and other matters for the World Intellectual Property Organization. He also advises clients on structure and financing of the acquisition and exploitation of intellectual capital, such as licensing, outsourcing, joint ventures, and strategic alliances.

The panel reviewed these and other key questions:

• How does the domain name system work?
• What are the costs of cybersquatting to businesses and IP owners?
• What are the key steps that companies can take to protect their domain names and trademarks from infringement and dilution?

*******************************************************************************

TELECONFERENCE CD
Purchase a CD-ROM of the full conference proceedings, including Q&A and PDF files of all handouts (available 10 days after the program).

• Regular Price - $297 (plus $9.45 S&H)


• With Teleconference Registration – an additional $75 (plus $9.45 S&H)

Other states may grant CLE credits for listening to this CD - check with your state about applying for self-study credit on CD-listening.