In 1961, when Paul was 11 years old, Ricky Nelson's single "Travelin' Man" hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. It could have been Keating's theme song because even at that early age, he was already an international traveler. Paul's dad was an engineering graduate from Yale who specialized in large maritime construction projects including Chicago's famous Navy Pier, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the BART tube in San Francisco and the Port of Valdez in Alaska (his mother, a Wellesley College economics grad, is an active day trader who raised a flock of five children, Paul being the 2nd youngest among them).

As children Paul recalled moving often as his dad moved the family from one major construction project to the next. "After the Chesapeake Bay Bridge project we moved to Jamaica for five years.  Then, when I was 11, dad started working for Peter Kiewit and we moved to Omaha for a year. By that Christmas my father was in California heading up the designs for the BART tube construction, so we 

Paul Keating's father worked on major construction and renovation projects at locations across the U.S. including Chicago's iconic Navy Pier (above). 

(Navy Pier photo from Bigstock)

moved to Novato, a then small rural community about 45 minutes north of San Francisco.  It was so rural that I delivered the local newspaper on my horse!"

As an undergraduate, Keating studied business & economics, fields that helped him pick up a good  part time job. "During school worked in the venture capital world for what now are called PE (private equity) firms. In the summer I worked heavy construction because I financed my own education," Keating said. "I was also a DJ for the university radio station (KUSF) – which earned no money but it was certainly fun and started my record collection and my eclectic interest in music. When I graduated from law school and passed the Bar my finance mentor sent me a card informing me I was “Certified useless", Keating laughed.

"I started my legal career working for the California Supreme Court. After a short stint there I knew I wanted no real part of litigation and went to work for a small boutique IP firm. I worked in startups, forming Informix and other companies that have since bit the dust but whose technologies we rely on today (MP3s, etc)."

His time in the start up world left Keating with an entrepreneurial streak that has never gone away. "In 1985 I stopped practicing law for three years to buy a clothing factory in Peru 

Paul Keating speaking at the 2006 
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Silicon Valley conference.

but sold it in 1989 because running a firm doing the same thing every day grew extremely boring. I went back to work as a lawyer to service a long-time client, then progressed through various small to medium firms and finally ended up as 1 of 13 equity partners at Carroll, Burdick & McDonough (CBM), a 97-attorney firm where I ran the business practice of 11 attorneys," Keating said.

The Romain Bridge Cathedral in Vic, Spain - the 
hometown of Paul Keating's wife Victoria whose family 
history there can be traced back across nine centuries. 

(Vic, Spain photo from Bigstock)

Keating's relationship with domains wouldn't really warm up until 2003 when he had moved to Spain. How he wound up there is another interesting story. Remember the fateful day 15 years ago that I mentioned earlier in this article? Keating told us about it. "In the summer of 1998 I met my wife Victoria who was a lawyer from Spain and who was in San Francisco studying English and the U.S. legal system. We lived in Tiburon (a town in Marin County across the bay from San Francisco) and spent our vacations visiting her family in Spain. Her parents lived in Vic which is a small town in the Pyrenees north of Barcelona where her family has had roots for some 900 years. We spent Christmas in the mountains in Vic in a house built before the American Revolution and 

summer at the beach near the French border with boat rides up the coast for lunch - rather idyllic!," Keating recalled fondly.  

Keating also found that something bigger than his office decor has changed. "By then Spain had my heart," he said. "By December 20, 2003 I had sold my interest in the firm, sold my house, my car, etc. and was standing in Barcelona again. I had no idea what to do other than not be an attorney. I had plans to start other businesses and had even negotiated a contract to supply low-voltage security fencing to the Catalan prison system."

It was then that Keating got that fateful call from the old client in the domain business - a call that has kept him the domain industry ever since with offices in both Barcelona and now London as well. It is one of those rare businesses that can provide the kind of flexibility most an only dream of. "Traditionally, attorneys needed close proximity to clients," Keating noted. "There seemed to be a heavy reliance on face-to-face meetings. I have no such restriction in my current practice."

"Although I started off with most clients being based in the U.S., this has not been the case for many years now.  My practice includes clients from far off places such as Australia, Philippines, Africa and Turkey and not so far off places such as Europe. I actually have never had a client in Spain! London is unique for me in that I actually have clients in England. Since 2003 I have had five clients visit my offices in Barcelona (counting one that came twice!)," Keating laughed. "I have had no clients visit the London office. Although time-zone issues arise (particularly in London where we are one hour earlier than Europe), I see no real issues as to where clients are located.  We communicate largely by email and phone."

Paul Keating speaking at the 2012 
Domaining Spain conference in Valencia.

"On the conflicts side, I see more reliance on alternate dispute resolution (ADR) and far less litigation than in the 90s when the likes of Verizon were obtaining huge (but useless) judgments for infringements," Keating said. "This is good in some respects (with faster, low-cost resolutions) but raises serious issues for registrants."

"The ADR (UDRP/DRS) process can actually preclude a registrant’s litigation rights. The domain environment (aside from ccTLDs) is almost entirely based upon contract – which is in essence a form of private law. Here the lack of formalities and foresight in the contractual creation stage harms registrants. Let me give you a couple of examples: 

First, we all know a losing respondent has the right to file formal litigation in the mutual jurisdiction to preclude the transfer of a domain in a UDRP. However, many do not realize that the mutual jurisdiction often does not provide the respondent with a legal right to press a claim. In other words,

Paul Keating on stage at the 2013 
Domaining Spain conference in Valencia.

the protections in the UDRP are meaningless and there is no remedy. Similarly, in the UK, the court in the Emirates dispute ruled that the DRS constituted binding arbitration thus precluding post-DRS litigation.

"I fear that the industry has been asleep and unorganized while the IP rights lobbies have undertaken a concerted effort to take control of the discussion and policy formation. Several examples come to mind. The first example is the URS where the rights of the registrant are treated almost as an after-thought with ever-expanding rights for the claimant. Back-door changes have suddenly appeared – such as the newly proposed fee to be paid by respondents. I believe we will see the same claimants who play games with UDRPs will migrate to the URS where the lottery tickets are cheaper and the burden is effectively shifted to the respondent," Keating predicted.

"A second example is the changes to the Trademark Clearing House (TMCH) implementation. We have now run from an exact match of a non-figurative trademark to the ability to register figurative marks as well as word combinations of marks.  As a result I can now lay “claim” to “fast cars” based upon a figurative trademark consisting of a squiggly doodle and the words “fast cars”.  There is even a move afoot to allow registration based upon the fact that a trademark has been 

recognized at the UDRP level even though the threshold for establishing trademark recognition at the UDRP level is so low as to be largely non-existent," Keating said, adding, "These are all part of the process of shifting effort and cost away from the trademark holders and placing additional burdens upon the domain registrant and associated domain name service providers."

"Second, take a serious look at your domains and at what you want to accomplish. Factor legal fees in as an average overhead cost issue (like your phone). It is foolhardy to ignore legal issues because the domain name at issue is itself of low value. What is needed is a structured

Legal help image from Bigstock

approach where you act as a team and the attorney can teach you how to address problems from the outset. For example, after 6 months of working with an attorney they should have taught you enough so that you can handle most claims properly. The same applies for transactions; after 6 transactions you should be familiar with basic terms so that you can spot when you need help and when you don’t."

"Third, take care of your reputation. If you don’t respond to cease & desist letters or default in UDRPs you will not be taken seriously when you have a dispute you want to challenge."

Aside from being “dad” I have regained my enjoyment for sailing. Having grown up racing 1-designs in windy San Francisco, I had found the light breezes of Barcelona rather boring. England has some interesting sailing. We live on a golf course in Spain and golf has always been an off-and-on-again passion. Regrettably I have yet to find any domainers in England who want to play." 

Before signing off, we asked Keating if he had any final advice for domain owners and the service providers who depend on them. Keating replied, "I would like the domain community to get more involved – and not just in domain names and registrant rights issues. The Internet was created with such a sense of freedom and passion – it allowed everyone to participate. Now, however, we seen an ever growing encroachment and I have a great fear that this will stifle the freedoms we have taken for granted."

"I am not talking about the “freedom” to have trademark typos or download the latest ripped movie.  My concern is far more basic. The Internet has become our lives so to speak. I

Paul Keating at the 2006 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 
East  conference in Florida

certainly could not live my life without it. My concern is over the degree of control being exercised both by government and large commercial interests, largely in the name of law enforcement, trade protection or, God forbid, terrorism. I fear that given the nature of the Internet and with the ability to track where we are and what we do, we will all end up being far more controlled and that the Internet, born out of a sense of freedom will in fact become a prison that we will have ourselves constructed," Keating said.