Synopsis
In 2012, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers (ICANN) launched an unprecedented expansion of the domain name system. In addition to the 22 generic top-level domains that existed at the time (e.g. .com, .org, .info), since late 2013 these have been joined by hundreds more (e.g. ninja, .website, .club, .london, .law, .lol, .xyz). A notable feature of this expansion is that so-called “dotbrands” (such as .google, .marriott and .barclays) are permitted for the first time in the Internet domain name system. When well-known brands like Amazon.com and Patagonia Inc. applied to ICANN to run the .amazon and .patagonia top level domains, this led to objections from several South American governments. Other governments with strong wine-producing industries objected to ICANN delegating control of the words “wine” and “vin” to applicants that were not necessarily the producers of wines legally protected in those countries by geographical indications (G.I.s). What happened to these applications at ICANN? How does this dovetail with developments in the international movement to protect G.I.s? What does a geographic name in cyberspace have to do with territorially based G.I. protection? The speaker, Mary Wong will address these issues in a real-life case study discussion. Professor David Llewelyn will introduce the speaker and Professor Irene Calboli will act as discussant.
Speaker's Profile
Mary Wong is a Senior Policy Director with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers (ICANN), in which capacity she handles global policy development work relating to the coordination and management of the Internet domain name system. Prior to joining ICANN, she was a tenured Professor of Law with the University of New Hampshire School of Law (formerly the Franklin Pierce Law Center), a top-ten-ranked intellectual property law school in the United States where she was the founding faculty director of its flagship applied research center for intellectual property, the Franklin Pierce Center for Intellectual Property. At UNH Law, Mary was also the Faculty Chair for Global Intellectual Property Partnerships and Chair of the Graduate Intellectual Property Program. Mary has previously been associated with the international law firm of Morrison & Foerster LLP, resident primarily in its New York office as Special Counsel to the firm’s Technology Transactions Group. She was also a law professor in her native Singapore, first at the National University of Singapore and then at the Singapore Management University, where she taught specialist courses in intellectual property, Internet and business law. Mary is a frequent speaker at academic and industry conferences worldwide, and has authored numerous articles in law reviews published in Singapore, Australia and the United States.
Click here for the newsletter.
The event is free, please register by 11 September, Friday.
Last updated on 28 Jun 2018 .
