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The
new Merge!
conference I told
you about in April
continues to flesh out the agenda
for the inaugural event at the Marriott
World Center in Orlando,
Florida October 14-18, 2017. The
show is the result of a new
partnership between domain
industry conference production
veterans Jothan
Frakes (NamesCon and
Domain Roundtable) and Ray
Dillman Neu (T.R.A.F.F.I.C. and
The Domain Conference).
Last
month they named their first
keynote speaker -
entrepreneur, author, digital leader
and global IP strategist Jen
Wolfe - and today they
added another - the Honorable
Neil Brown, a distinguished
panelist at WIPO
and the National
Arbitration Forum. Mr.
Brown, who is based in Melbourne,
Australia, is a Queens Counsel,
Arbitrator and Mediator in private
practice with a long and
distinguished career in government
and the law.
Mr.
Brown was a Minister in the Federal
Government in Australia in
charge of portfolios in
Attorney-General’s, Communications
and Employment and Youth Affairs. In
the law, he has appeared in every
jurisdiction in Australia and has
had experience in commercial,
intellectual property, town planning
and taxation matters. He is an Adjunct
Professor of Law at Murdoch
University in Western Australia.
Mr. Brown is a qualified arbitrator
and mediator practicing in
international and domestic matters
in the commercial, communication,
intellectual property and
governmental fields, as well as a
leading arbitrator and adviser on
internet domain name disputes.
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Neil
Brown
Merge! Keynote Speaker
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While
many professional domain
investors feel panelists in UDRP
filings have a bias against
them, Mr. Brown has a record
of being one of the top
panelists in denying complaints
filed against
domain investors (this
according to semi-annual surveys
published by NeusNews.com). |
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Paul
McGrady Jr. |
In
another major new conference
development, Merge!
announced it will host the
McGrady Domain Academy as
part of the multi-faceted
show. It will be helmed by Paul
D. McGrady Jr., a
partner in Winston &
Strawn’s Chicago
office and chair of the
firm’s trademark, domain
names, and brand enforcement
practice.
Mr.
McGrady is also the author
of McGrady on
Domain Names, the
definitive treatise on
domain name law, and McGrady
on Social Media.
McGrady serves as adjunct
professor of law at
DePaul University College of
Law, and is a frequent
lecturer on Internet-related
aspects of intellectual
property. Mr. McGrady
received a Bachelor of Arts
degree in History and
Political Science from
Cedarville University, and a
Juris Doctor degree from
DePaul University School of
Law.
Registration
for the Merge! conference is
open now as are room
reservations at
the Marriott World Center where
the event will take
place. |
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This
is the largest Marriott
resort in the world and
typical October rates at the
popular Orlando retreat are
in the $300 range. However,
the Merge! show has secured
a limited block of
rooms that start at just $129
a night for their attendees
(I booked mine as soon as
the show was announced).
Merge! also secured a small
number of Hospitality Bay
Suites that typically
cost $500 nightly but are
available at $250 per
night on a first come first
served basis. |
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