Markmonitor takes part in many activities in both the broader internet and trademark communities to advocate for our clients and engage in domain name policy. Most recently, Markmonitor sent members of our Global Industry Relations (GIR) team to the ICANN80 Policy Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, in June – for more detail on what happened please see our webinar.

Prudence Malinki, Head of Global Industry Relations, and Chris Niemi, Manager of Strategic Initiatives, in Kigali, Rwanda for ICANN80.
Prudence Malinki, Head of Global Industry Relations, and Chris Niemi, Manager of Strategic Initiatives, in Kigali, Rwanda for ICANN80

Prior to that, Markmonitor experienced an action-packed May, with staff attending both the ICANN Contracted Parties Summit (CPS) as well as the 2024 Annual Meeting of the International Trademark Association (INTA). Some short commentary on each event follows below.

Prior to 2024, the most recent ICANN Contracted Parties Summit (CPS) occurred in 2022 in Los Angeles, California. On May 6-9, the latest CPS was held in Paris, France, with primarily registries and registrars (parties who are contracted with ICANN in either the Registry Agreement or in the Registrar Accreditation Agreement, respectively) in attendance, though there were a handful of ccTLDs and other entities from the space present as well.

As the public ICANN meetings proper (the Community Forum, the Policy Forum, and the General Meeting which happen each year) are primarily concerned with policy matters, the CPS is a meeting more tightly focused on operational and business interactions between the contracted parties. Looking through this different lens, the registries and registrars got right to talking about the issues that affect how they take care of their business on a day-to-day basis.

Sessions covered issues from sustainability, WSIS, and NIS2 to the Next Round of gTLD applications, User Acceptance, and Q&A with ICANN Board members. Markmonitor attended sessions, as well as met with many of our industry contacts, customers, and other attendees. Markmonitor encourages ICANN and the internet community to continue holding events (like the CPS) that promote stakeholders facilitating discussion with one another. The next CPS is planned to be in May 2025 in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.

Newfold Digital and Markmonitor in Paris for the ICANN CPS meeting April 2024

The International Trademark Association (INTA) hosted its Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 18-24. The 146th iteration of this meeting found trademark attorneys, practitioners, and brand professionals coming together for various legal and professional development activities. With over 10,000 attendees from all over the world, great dialogue was held, with various opinions and regional specific views coming out.

The Annual Meeting kicked off with opening remarks from Dr. Bernice A. King, daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., about a number of subjects, including trademarks and how these rights can continue to stay protected. The individual committees of which Markmonitor has members also had in-person sessions to collaborate on goals for the member terms and to outline responsibilities. Markmonitor is a part of the Internet Committee with Prudence Malinki as the committee member and the Emerging Issues Committee with Shane Layman as the committee member.

Markmonitor was a formal sponsor of the Annual Meeting, sponsoring both Table Topics and the APAC Reception. The GIR team also hosted three Table Topics:  ‘UDRP: What to consider in 2024’ (moderated by Chris Niemi), ‘Corporate Domain Name Portfolio Management in a Post-Pandemic Landscape’ (moderated by Prudence Malinki), and ‘Blockchain Domains: How to Manage Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) Domains as a Trademark Holder’ (moderated by Shane Layman). All in all, Table Topics are a great way for meeting attendees to approach a trademark-related subject with interested individuals and be guided through informed conversations, encouraging both participation and growth.  

Markmonitor takes part in INTA to stay at the forefront of issues that matter to trademark holders. The next INTA Annual Meeting will be held in San Diego, California, in May 2025. Please watch this space as Markmonitor and the GIR team will continue to provide advice, strategy, advocacy, thought leadership, policymaking, and industry knowledge and expertise to our clients to assist them in establishing, managing, optimizing, and protecting their domain names and corporate domain portfolios in our ever-changing business environment.

L-R: Shane Layman, Manager, Global Industry Relations; Prudence Malinki, Head of Global Industry Relations; and Chris Niemi, Manager, Strategic Initiatives, in Atlanta for INTA’s 2024 Annual Meeting