Blacknight CEO to Speak on ICANN Contract Issues at The Munich Conference on New Top-Level Domains.

Dedicated panel will explore discrepancies for registrars between ICANN contract requirements and national laws


Summary
ICANN is a US corporation, but it enters into contracts with many non-US entities. With the launch of new top level domains the number of non-US companies signing contracts will grow exponentially, as will the conflicts with national law

Leading Irish domain registrar and hosting company Blacknight announce their participation at The Munich Conference on New Top-Level Domains.


Hosted by united domains, The Munich Conference offers the opportunity for the New TLD community to meet and discuss issues that are unique to their interests. Among those encouraged to attend are trademark owners, attorneys, TLD applicants, registrars, marketing professionals, hosting companies and registries.

The event, which is geared toward the domain industry, will take place in Munich from October 27-29, 2013 at the Sofitel Munich Bayerspost Hotel. The sessions are geared toward strengthening competence in marketing strategies, connecting with service providers and staying informed about emerging opportunities and challenges

Speakers include ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade, Jordan Buchanan of Google and Sarah Langstone of VeriSign. Blacknight CEO Michele Neylon will participate on the panel “ICANN Contract vs. National Law”. Non-US domain registrars have long struggled with portions of the ICANN Contract (which is a condition of ICANN accreditation) that would place them in direct conflict with national law.

“I am proud to be a part of the Munich Conference on New Top-Level Domains,” Neylon explains. “It offers those of us directly involved in New TLDs an intimate forum in which to focus on issues that effect us and I am particularly pleased that the conference is highlighting the problems non-US domain registrars face via the ICANN Contract. For many of us, to sign the ICANN Contract, which we must do to receive ICANN accreditation would place us in violation of national laws in the countries in which we operate.”

Neylon continues: “While we don’t believe ICANN would encourage us to violate our local laws, we feel that if the organization aims to present itself as an international body, it must become more sensitive to its non-US partners. When it comes to contracts and legalities ICANN has adopted an almost Janus-like approach. On the one hand ICANN tells registrars and registries (contracted parties) that it cannot oblige them to breach national law, at the same time they impose contractual conditions that put registrars and registries in direct conflict with their local laws. I applaud the efforts of ICANN to become more responsive to the international aspects of its behaviour, but it's still got a long way to go.”

Other panels include a marketing talk on “How major companies/businesses plan to use their new gTLDs” and Google’s gTLD strategy. The Munich Conference on New Top-Level Domains is open to anyone who wishes to attend. For more information on this event, please visit http://www.newdomains.org/

For more information on Blacknight, including a full suite of domain and hosting services please visit http://www.blacknight.com

About Blacknight

Blacknight (http://www.blacknight.com/) are an Irish based, ICANN accredited domain registrar and hosting company. Recipients of several awards for their revolutionary use of social media, Blacknight are one of Europe’s most cutting edge Internet companies. Blacknight constantly seek to lead the way by introducing innovative solutions for its client base and provide dedicated servers and co-location as well as a comprehensive range of Microsoft Windows and Linux based hosting services and domain name registration services to business globally. IP transit services and other solutions for more demanding business and academic customers are offered a la carte. Fibre broadband services for both business and domestic users are also available throughout most of Ireland.

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