<div><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">This email prompts a thought.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN"><br /></span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">As domain names continue to push their way closer to mass market awareness, stories like this one in the National Journal which bears an incredulous tone, are only going to become more prevalent, cynical and one-sided. Particularly as the ripples of the new gTLD program reaches media who know less and less and less about ICANN, UDRP practices or any of the mechanics that make-up domain name registration policies.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN"><br /></span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">To the naked eye, it likely seems that the Academy <em>should</em> prevail in the case against oscarlist.com or academyawardsinc.com; so much so that if GoDaddy were to win the case, it <em>might</em> seem like a miscarriage of justice. Now that would be a problem beyond this one case.<br /></span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN"><br /></span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">The problem is rooted in the fact that there is too little grounding in domain names beyond the small group of people who have participated in ICANN, yet public policy, law and public opinion is made by more who don't. This may wind up being the real shortcoming in the communications surrounding the new gTLD program.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN"><br /></span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">Cheers,</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN"><br /></span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">John Berard</span></div>
<div> </div>
<div>--------- Original Message ---------</div>
<blockquote class="threadBlockQuote" style="border-left: 2px solid #C2C2C2; padding-left: 3px; margin-left: 4px;">
<div>Subject: [bc-gnso] FW: GoDaddy.com Loses Motion to Recuse 'The Academy's Judge'<br />From: "Phil Corwin" <psc@vlaw-dc.com><br />Date: 2/11/14 9:35 am<br />To: "bc-gnso@icann.org" <bc-gnso@icann.org><br /><br /> <!--[if !mso]><style>v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #1f497d;">FYI—very high profile cybersquatting case against Go Daddy… <br /></span></p>
<div>
<div style="border: none; border-top: solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt; padding: 3.0pt 0in 0in 0in;">
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif';">Subject:</span></strong><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif';"> GoDaddy.com Loses Motion to Recuse 'The Academy's Judge'</span> </p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202641536588?kw=GoDaddy.com%20Loses%20Motion%20to%20Recuse%20%27The%20Academy%27s%20Judge%27&et=editorial&bu=National%20Law%20Journal&cn=20140211&src=EMC-Email&pt=Daily%20Headlines">http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202641536588?kw=GoDaddy.com%20Loses%20Motion%20to%20Recuse%20%27The%20Academy%27s%20Judge%27&et=editorial&bu=National%20Law%20Journal&cn=20140211&src=EMC-Email&pt=Daily%20Headlines</a> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; background: white;"><strong><span style="font-size: 24.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">GoDaddy.com Loses Motion to Recuse 'The Academy's Judge' </span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">Amanda Bronstad, The National Law Journal</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">February 04, 2014, 05:03 PM | </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;"><img id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:52fa6f118ee45" alt="1988 Academy Awards red carpet" width="616" height="372" border="0" /></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">1988 Academy Awards red carpet Photo: Alan Light via Wikimedia Commons </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">Domain-name registrar GoDaddy.com Inc. has lost an effort to force the recusal of a federal judge based on alleged bias toward the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, whose own attorney it said referred to her as “the Academy’s judge.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">In 2010, the Academy, which hosts the Oscars awards show, sued GoDaddy.com for cybersquatting. The suit alleges that GoDaddy.com offers a program by which its customers can “park” a Web page—in this case, allegedly under infringing domain names—for the sole purpose of collecting ad revenue derived when users click onto the sites.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">Among the more than 100 domain names at issue are oscarlist.com and academyawardsinc.com. The case is scheduled to go to trial later this year.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">Although the case originally was assigned to U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer in Los Angeles, the Academy successfully moved to transfer the litigation to U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins, who is overseeing related cases over its trademarks.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">During a hearing Monday, Fischer rejected GoDaddy’s motion to recuse Collins, saying she would issue a written ruling soon. “The Court finds that the motion is untimely, frivolous, and that defense has provided no evidence that a reasonable person could conclude that there is any bias by Judge Collins,” Fischer concluded, according to a minute order of the proceedings.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">“Her ruling began by characterizing the motion as both untimely and frivolous and concluded by noting that GoDaddy had blatantly misrepresented the facts,” said David Quinto, a partner at Los Angeles-based Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and the Academy’s longtime trademark attorney.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">The organization’s counsel of record, Stuart Singer, a partner in Boies, Schiller & Flexner's Fort Lauderdale office, said he was “gratified by Judge Fischer’s decision.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">GoDaddy.com did not respond to a request for comment, and its attorney, Aaron McKown of Wrenn Bender in Irvine, Calif., did not return a call for comment.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">Among other things, GoDaddy.com’s attorneys claimed in a Dec. 31 motion that the Academy has attempted “to game the system” by steering all its cases before Collins, who has overseen 25 of its disputes within the past 15 years. In this case, they noted that Collins had ruled for the Academy on a number of motions, including for dismissal and summary judgment. Collins has allegedly encouraged GoDaddy.com to settle the case while suggesting the Academy file a second suit.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">The Academy, in turn, has used its leverage with Collins, whose daughter is an actress, in settlement negotiations, the motion asserts. During a 2012 meeting on potential settlement terms, for example, Quinto allegedly told GoDaddy.com’s attorneys that they should know Collins is “the Academy’s judge.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">In court papers, the Academy’s attorneys called GoDaddy.com’s claims “outrageous and sanctionable.” In a Jan. 13 opposition filing, they noted that GoDaddy.com did not object at the time the case was transferred. They brushed aside arguments about Collins’ daughter, who is not an Academy member, and called accusations about the judge’s statements misleading. They also defended their own settlement discussions.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">Quinto said his reference to Collins as “the Academy judge”—not, he insisted, “the Academy’s judge” as GoDaddy.com contends—simply meant she “was familiar with the academy’s intellectual properties.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">“GoDaddy’s motion struck me as baseless and Judge Collins is a very well respected judge,” he added. “Let’s just say that in my career, I’ve never seen something like this.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; background: white;"><em><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">Contact Amanda Bronstad at <a href="mailto:abronstad@alm.com">abronstad@alm.com</a></span></em><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black;" lang="EN"><br /> <br /> Read more: <a href="http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202641536588/GoDaddy.com-Loses-Motion-to-Recuse-%27The-Academy%27s-Judge%27#ixzz2t2FOD93o"> <span style="color: #003399;">http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202641536588/GoDaddy.com-Loses-Motion-to-Recuse-%27The-Academy%27s-Judge%27#ixzz2t2FOD93o</span></a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; color: navy;">Philip S. Corwin, Founding Principal</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; color: navy;">Virtualaw LLC</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; color: navy;">1155 F Street, NW</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; color: navy;">Suite 1050</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; color: navy;">Washington, DC 20004</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; color: navy;">202-559-8597/Direct</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; color: navy;">202-559-8750/Fax</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; color: navy;">202-255-6172/cell</span></strong><strong></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; color: navy;"> </span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; color: navy;">Twitter: @VlawDC</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><em><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; color: navy;">"Luck is the residue of design" -- Branch Rickey</span></em></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><hr style="color: #a0a0a0;" align="center" noshade="noshade" size="1" width="100%" /></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">No virus found in this message.<br /> Checked by AVG - <a href="http://www.avg.com">www.avg.com</a><br /> Version: 2013.0.3462 / Virus Database: 3697/7069 - Release Date: 02/06/14</span></p>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>