Valideus has been created by Nick Wood and Lorna Gradden, the directors of ICANN accredited registrar Com Laude. Com Laude is a boutique domain name management company based in London that works with some of the best known brands in the world.
The Valideus new gTLD team was enhanced in January 2010 with the appointment of Dr Liz Williams, former ICANN policy specialist who has extensive experience of the new gTLD process and is the former Deputy Chair of a major ccTLD.
The current ICANN new gTLD process builds upon earlier “Proof of concept” rounds but is entirely new. Although no-one can legitimately claim to be expert in a new process that has yet to launch, we are proud to indicate some experience which we think is very relevant to the new gTLD process such as:
- Membership of the 16 person IRT (Implementation Recommendation Team) formed by the ICANN Board to advise on measures to protect IP in the new gTLDs (March to June 2009)
- Chairing ICANN’s London consultation Day on Over-arching issues in the new gTLDs including Trade Mark Protections & Malicious Behaviours (June 2009)
- Representing trade mark/commercial interests on various ICANN panels on the new gTLDs including for City applicants, for the GAC (Government Advisory committee), for the ccNSO (Country Code Names Supporting Organisation) etc
- Founder member of the Intellectual Property Constituency of ICANN and member of its leadership
- Writing and producing “The Perfect Sunrise” booklet, part of the new gTLD core materials in 2008
- Proposing the concept of validation of IPR during TLD launches to the European Commission in 2002 on behalf of MARQUES, the European Association of Trade Mark Owners and subsequently designing the Clearinghouse concept
- Managing one of seven successful bids from over 40 applications in the 2000 New gTLD “Proof of concept” round
- Working on the .eu, .mobi, .asia and .tel Sunrise schemes with a 100% accuracy rating
- Devising the Rights Protection Measures for .TEL on a consultancy basis
- Speaking as an expert on IPR protections and Sunrise launches on panels for ICANN, INTA (the International Trade Mark Association), MARQUES, the PTMG (Pharmaceutical Trade Mark Group) etc
- Leading a prestigious consortium making a bid for a Not-for-Profit Dot London which has been given a Letter of Non-Objection from the Office of the Mayor of London
- Management of a leading ICANN Accredited Registrar which includes daily liaison with gTLD and ccTLD registries and the management of a complex technical infrastructure that is compliant with ICANN standards
- Former member of the Advisory Board of the Czech Arbitration Court (sole provider of DRS services for .eu and a panel provider for the UDRP)
- Chair of the MARQUES CyberSpace Team and co-ordinator of comments on the ICANN new gTLD process on behalf of MARQUES and ECTA (European Community Trade Mark Association)
We are as experienced in the world of ICANN as we are in the management of extensive domain portfolios for the world’s leading brands.