Feb 10: Singapore Pathfinder Webinar: What every Civil Society Organization should Know about its use of the Internet and Never Dared to Ask! - Part 2

[Lori Schulman]

Hi Amr,

I am going to respond very briefly to the point about civil society and brand protection and I think that this a conversation that we can continue in more specific detail after Singapore.  From my point of view, the root of brand protection is consumer protection.   If viewed through the lens of consumer protection, then civil society interests certainly align with intellectual property interests.     They are not antithetical.   Independent research conducted by NPOC demonstrated an overwhelming need for basic information regarding how to use the Internet and opportunities within the DNS to support organizational missions.  Brian Winterfeldt, the IPC GNSO councilor, offered to give the IP point of view in response to questions that NPOC participants have regarding choosing names, how to register and protect domains, etc.    The deck that he presented at last month's webinar touched on free speech issues within the context of organizational names.   I have spent most of my career as a nonprofit IP lawyer.  That is viewed in some circles as an oxymoron but it is not.  The care and protection of an organization's good name (and its intellectual property in general) is critical to the advancement of its mission whether it is to feed the hungry, protect the environment or foster good Internet citizenship.   The idea is to create the right balance between fostering basic rights such as free speech and privacy while protecting the name, reputation and intellectual output of worthy organizations.   The way that nonprofits enforce their rights can be very different than for profits for a variety of reasons - mission objectives and cost are 2 big factors.   Some may freely release content if it is within their organizational interest to do so.   I have found through the years that the best way to keep a balanced perspective and not to be overzealous in my approach to enforcement is to remember that trademark rights, particularly, are grounded in consumer protection.  Copyright and patent protections are necessary to foster innovation which is good for society as a whole.   It's when those principles get lost, twisted or obscured that we run into trouble.

Lori



Lori S. Schulman * General Counsel
1703 North Beauregard Street

Alexandria, VA  22311-1714

P 703-575-5678 * Lori.Schulman at ascd.org<mailto:Lori.Schulman at ascd.org>
[cid:image001.png at 01CC81E2.512C46F0]



From: NCSG-Discuss [mailto:NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Amr Elsadr
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2015 10:22 AM
To: NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: Feb 10: Singapore Pathfinder Webinar: What every Civil Society Organization should Know about its use of the Internet and Never Dared to Ask! - Part 2

Hi Sam,

Unfortunately, this webinar will take place midway through constituency day, so it'll be pretty difficult for those who wish to participate in their own groups' meetings (either in person or remotely) to attend the webinar.

I am certainly interested to listen in, and will try to in the future. One of the topics I find to be of great interest is brand protection. I find the mix of civil society online, domain names and brand protection to be more than just a little odd. Now I'm not saying that protection of brands is a bad thing, but when it comes to gTLD policies, I have found that achieving almost all of the goals that I have come to believe are important to civil society put us in direct conflict with the interests of brand owners.

I would assume (and hope) that there is some way for civil society to approach this issue differently than the Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC), but it looks like one of the presenters of this topic is actually one of the IPC's GNSO councillors.

Will there be a recording of the webinar? Like I said, I'd be very interested to hear more on this.

Thanks.

Amr

On Feb 3, 2015, at 1:41 PM, Sam Lanfranco <lanfran at YORKU.CA<mailto:lanfran at YORKU.CA>> wrote:


Singapore Pathfinder Webinar Program
"What every Civil Society Organization should Know about
its use of the Internet and Never Dared to Ask! - Part 2"
(South East Asia Regional Webinar)
Date & Time: February 10, 2015 11:30-13:00 SGT (3:30-5:00 UTC)
Event Location: Moor Room, Raffles City Convention Centre, Singapore
Civil Society and Non-Governmental Organizations are the Internet's largest stakeholder group, and they are becoming increasingly dependent on how the Internet operates in order to carry out work in pursuit of their vision and Mission.
This regional Pathfinder webinars and dialogues series is designed to address vital operational concerns, explore challenges and present effective strategic uses of the Internet by Civil Society and NGO organizations. Presenters from Internet stakeholder groups will address issues that directly impact Civil Society organization use of the Internet. This is Pathfinder's second regional session. The first was in Washington D.C. in early January. There are more to follow. Pathfinder is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership Foundation . This South East Asia Regional Webinar is hosted by ICANN's Not-For-Profit Operational Concerns Constituency (NPOC) with assistance from Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP (Washington D.C.) and the Alpha & Omega Law Corporation (Singapore)
Topic 1: "Making it work for you: Emerging Opportunities and Challenges for Civil Society Organizations on the Internet"
Presenter: Sam Lanfranco, Chair, NPOC Policy Committee; Chair, ISOC-Canada Public Policy Committee

Topic 2: "Civil Society Online: Domain Names, Brand Protection and Abuse Prevention"
Presenters: Renee Xavier, Director, Alpha & Omega Law Firm (Singapore); Brian J. Winterfeldt, Head of Internet Practice, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP (Washington D.C.)

Topic 3: "ICANN's Role in Civil Society Organization Internet Opportunities and Challenges"
Presenters: Jean-Jacques Sahel, Civil Society Engagement, ICANN; Nigel Hickson, IG matters, ICANN

Moderator: Rudi Vansnick, Chair, Not-for-Profit Operational Concerns Constituency (NPOC)

For information on remote participation and questions see: http://www.gkpf.org/portal.php?p=webinarSg150210




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