Gareth Dickson

Gareth Dickson is an Associate in the IP / IT Litigation department at Cooley LLP. He helps clients resolve IP disputes, with a focus on digital, social media and Internet-based disputes. Mr. Dickson does a lot of work on gTLDs and is often a late early-adopter of new technologies. At ICANN Gareth is involved in the GNSO and WIPO. He is also a WIPO UDRP Panelist.

Career History

Mr. Dickson began his interest in technology as a hobbyist web designer in the late 1990's. At Cambridge University, where Mr. Dickson read law, he edited his College Newsletter and began publishing it online. After graduating law school, Mr. Dickson worked at TTPCom in Hertfordshire before beginning work as a solicitor at Ashurst in London, where he pursued and defended claims of intellectual property infringement, specifically those involving the Internet and digital media. He filed the first ever Nominet DRS Complaint involving the use of "replica" in domain names also incorporating a trade mark. The complaint was successful and two domain names were recovered.

Mr. Dickson was admitted to the New York bar in 2010 and moved to US law firm Edwards Wildman in 2012 where he began working on the new gTLD program. He led a team that successfully defended three legal rights objections and three community objections filed by the Independent Objector and represented various new gTLD applicants in securing delegation of their gTLDs and readying them for general availability.

In 2015, Mr. Dickson moved to Cooley and continues to advice leading technology innovators on intellectual property rights, jurisdiction, intermediary liability, rights protection mechanisms and Internet governance.

Presentations

Mr. Dickson has given presentations on Internet and technology issues to Nominet's DRS Experts, the Fordham IP Conference and as part of London Technology Week. His presentations include:

1. "UDRP and other acronyms: reshaping online rights protection through ADR." Presented to the 24th Annual Fordham Intellectual Property Law & Policy Conference in New York, on April 1, 2016.
2. "ICANN RPMs: Evolution, Revolution, or Better the Devil you know?" Presented to Nominet Dispute Resolution Service Experts' annual meeting in Oxford UK, on February 2, 2016.
3. "A year at ICANN: The users' perspective." Presented to the 23rd Annual Fordham Intellectual Property Law & Policy Conference in Cambridge, UK, on April 8, 2015.
4. "Easy ways to protect your innovations online." Presented as part of London Technology Week in London, UK, in June 2014.
5. "Practical steps for policing the internet and latest news on gTLDs." Panel discussion at the Sweet & Maxwell Annual Trade Mark Conference, June 2014, on the latest in digital issues and new gTLDs.

Publications

Mr. Dickson's publications on ICANN and domain name issues include:

1. "Online eligibility requirements will frustrate some insurance businesses, but remedies are available." Blog post given insurance companies an overview of how they can acquire a <.insurance> domain name.
2. "High Court ruling on domain name registrations has impact for brand owners and for ICANN." Review of recent case from England concerning trademarks and the WHOIS.
3. "UK Raises Question of Whether Domain Names are Property." Commentary on an issue discussed in the UK Parliament.
4. "Protecting Your Brand Online with URS and UDRP." Overview of how to use ICANN's approved alternative dispute resolution procedures to protect your brand online.
5. "Maintaining Control of Your Brand Among 1,200 New gTLDs." Practical steps for businesses wondering how to keep up with the rapid growth of the domain name system.
6. "Now Is The Time For Review." Assessment of how the online domain name system’s rapid expansion can be navigated and managed through sensible policies and targeted use of resources.
7. "Trade marks and the Internet."
8. "Aerospace and cyberspace: aviation and the new gTLDs." Preview of the Farnborough Airshow and the early stages of the aviation industry's adoption of new gTLDs.
9. "Excess of .wine gives ICANN a headache." Overview of the issues facing ICANN following France's ultimatum at ICANN 50, concerning reform of accountability mechanisms and the protection of geographical indications at the second level of wine-related gTLDs.
10. "Nominet Announces Plans for Radical Overhaul of .UK Domain Name System." Update on the Nominet consultation to register domain names directly under .uk.
11. "No .happy ending as ICANN announces new gTLD applicants." Overview of the more than 1900 new TLD applications filed with ICANN.

Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy

Top-Level Domain

World Intellectual Property Organization