The huge SXSW Interactive Festival begins its five-day 2014 run Friday (March 7) at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas. Sedo's long time General Counsel Jeremiah Johnston will be in Austin to talk about new gTLDs in a session titled The Discussion’s Over: New Domains Are Here that will be held at 12:30pm CST Monday, March 10 in Ballroom E.  

Johnston has been with Sedo since 2004 and served five years as Chief Operating Officer and head of marketing until 2011. He also represents Sedo as a founding member of the Internet Commerce Association (ICA), now in its sixth year, and sits on the Board of Directors in the role of association President, working to shape the future of domain names in the regulatory and political space. 

The program synopsis for Johnston's SXSW session notes, "Years of discussion and debate have come to a close and a historic expansion of the Internet is underway. The domains we've become accustomed to since the Internet’s birth – extensions like .com, .net and .org – are no longer the only game in town. New top-level domains (TLDs) have started to launch for business and personal use, and hundreds should be available by year’s end. This session will help you understand new TLDs, explain why you should care, and give you everything you need so you're not left behind by those in the know.

With new TLD developments happening daily, you’ll hear the latest news and learn about unique issues that accompany their launch such as string contentions, Internationalized Domain Names, the debate over open and closed registries and how to beat the crowd for the best new domains. You’ll get practical advice about when you should spend money on domains that will advance your brand, and when you should – or shouldn’t – invest in defensive registrations."

Jeremiah Johnston
Sedo General Counsel