By, Allison Cherundolo
The International Trademark Association (INTA) is a not-for-profit association of trademark owners, professionals and academics dedicated to the support and advancement of trademarks and related intellectual property as elements of commerce. This year, INTA’s annual meeting was held on Sedo’s home turf; Boston, Massachusetts. Over the course of four days, more than 7,000 participants traveling from 130 countries gathered to discuss the changing landscape of the trademark industry through educational programs, committee meetings, exhibits, social events and networking opportunities. Since becoming a member of INTA in 2006, Sedo has been working to educate the trademark community regarding the legitimacy of the secondary domain name market. Over the course of the past four years, Sedo’s legal team has left a positive impression within INTA as market leaders of the domain name industry. The team attends many INTA conferences and roundtable discussions each year discussing the need to find a balance between trademarks rights and promoting creativity through free speech. Sedo has fostered relationships within INTA to help open the lines of communication between domain owners and trademark holders.
In conjunction with INTA’s annual meeting, the World Trademark Review Industry Awards acknowledge in-house legal teams in seventeen different market areas – from Fashion and Entertainment to Energy and Electronics. This year, Sedo’s in-house team was nominated for the prestigious honor of “Internet & Online Services Legal Team of the Year.” WTR highlighted the group’s unique ability to educate and counsel businesses and individuals on how to protect their own intellectual property rights and expand their brands online. The Sedo team, split between Boston, MA and Cologne, Germany, prioritizes intellectual property protection in their practice and developed a global strategy to encourage the balance of existing laws against misuse of domains vs. the ownership rights of legitimate domain names. The World Trademark Review Industry Awards highlight the critical work performed by in-house trademark and IP teams, and identifies those who are performing their functions to the highest possible standards in the IP realm. This year, Sedo was nominated along with other industry leaders - Google, Yahoo!, Overstock.com and Research in Motion. While Research in Motion was deemed at this year’s winner, Sedo was honored to have been nominated against such prominent in-house legal teams and has hopes of being nominated again next year at INTA’s 133rd Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California.