By Zak Muscovitch

The Internet Commerce Association has two great events planned for Namescon, and will also be busy there meeting with members and conducting its Working Groups.

The annual ICA Dinner, which is now sold out (but we are reserving a few tickets for new ICA members who join between now and the dinner), is being held on the Monday at the Foundation Room, Mandalay Bay. This is a great opportunity to meet many of the major players in the Domain Name industry. If you were unable to get tickets this year, make sure you join the ICA as a member so that you get the first opportunity to get a ticket for next year. The ICA plays an important role for the Domain Name investing community, by monitoring all regulatory and legal developments and issues, and advocating on behalf of Domain Name investors. Phil Corwin, as ICA's General Counsel, has tirelessly spearheaded these efforts.

The ICA is also conducting a great session called, "The Most Shocking UDRP Decisions of 2016". This will be held 12 noon on the Monday. Moderated by domain name community stalwart Bill Sweetman, attorney Jason Schaeffer, honorary attorney, Nat Cohen, and myself will be participating in the Panel. Each of us will be advocating for a particular case, which we have nominated as the "most shocking of 2016". At the end, a vote will be taken, and the "winning" case will be selected.

In addition to the Panel presentation, there will also be an awards ceremony where the Lonnie Borck Memorial Award will be given to honor an individual who has gone above and beyond to assist Domain Name owners. Elliot Silver and Nat Cohen will be making the presentation to the recipient.

Lastly, the ICA's working groups will be meeting to discuss important issues such as UDRP Reform and Domain Name theft. The Working Group Meetings will be held at 4 pm on the Monday. If you are interesting in helping to work on these issues and advocating for the ICA, please join the ICA and get in touch with us.


By Zak Muscovitch.

Last year at Namescon, my Domain Name Leasing Workshop was (to my surprise) packed, and attendees got to go through an entire domain name lease agreement with me. Attendees also received an annotated domain name lease agreement, which contained explanatory commentary about the provisions of a typical domain name lease agreement.

This year at Namescon® 2016, I will be joined by eminent domain name attorney and friend, Karen Bernstein from Berstein IP in New York City, and we will be going deeper, and discussing domain name leasing issues together with all attendees. It will be an informal session where you can bring your basic and advanced questions and have a discussion with us about common issues that arise in domain name lease transactions. You can even pose specific questions about particular issues that you have encountered or are concerned about and Karen and I will do our best to answer without providing any actual legal advice! 🙂

The session is on Sunday, January 10, 2016, at 12:00 noon, and is called "Table Topic C: Leasing a Domain".

In preparation for the session, you may want to watch my interview on DomainSherpa, where Michael Cyger and I provided an unprecedented examination of domain name leasing issues, in remarkable detail. Michael sure went into specifics as is his trademark style, and I think viewers got to learn a substantial amount about domain name leasing.

 

By watching the DomainSherpa presentation before Namescon® 2016, you will familiarize yourself with the issues and procedures of domain name lease transactions, so that when you come to Namescon® 2016, you may be able to ask follow up or more specific questions about domain name leases from two experienced attorneys, Karen and myself. You can also download a copy of the annotated sample 'Domain Name Lease Agreement with an Option to Purchase' here, from the DomainSherpa website (which was originally distributed to Namescon® 2015 attendees.

I look forward to meeting you at Namescon® 2016, and will also be available at my Network Lane Table on Sunday, January 10, 2016, for informal chats and to meet old and new friends. See you in Vegas!

 


By Zak Muscovitch.

The  "Leasing Domain Names" workshop at Namescon is almost full. I am looking forward to spending 45 minutes taking everyone through a domain name lease agreement, line by line, and explaining the issues and considerations, so that you become familiar with the basics of domain name leasing transactions. After the workshop, I will also be giving attendees an Annotated Domain Name Lease Agreement, which I prepared specifically for Namescon, and which can be used as a template and reference guide for domain name lease transactions.

Domain Name Leasing occurs with more and more frequency as it can allow a lessee to get use of a valuable premium domain name without having to lay out the entire purchase price at the outset. That, combined with an option to purchase, has the potential to make a successful transaction for both parties. Nevertheless, there are potential pitfalls, and also benefits to structuring the transaction in certain ways. Come learn about it, as I love discussing domain name leasing transactions.

The Domain Name Leasing workshop will be held on Sunday, January 11, 2015, at 2:15 pm in "The Mojo Room", at Namescon 2015, in Las Vegas, at the Tropicana Hotel.