Bret Fausett

Organization:	Uniregistry
Affiliation:	GNSO
Region:	North America
Country:	USA
Email:	bret [at] internet.pro
Website:	http://www.internet.pro
LinkedIn:	Bret Fausett
Twitter:	@bretfausett
Currently a member of ICANN's GNSO Currently a member of ICANN's RySG Formerly a member of ICANN's ALAC Featured in the ICANN 50 - London playing card deck

Brett Fausett is one of the first Attorneys to pursue the intellectual property aspects of Internet Law. He is currently an Attorney with Internet Pro APC, which is based in Marina del Rey, California.

Fausett's areas of practice are described as somewhat equal parts Internet, business, and intellectual property.

Bret Fausett is a member of The Board of Directors of the DotGreen Community, Inc.. He is also working with Uniregistry, a prominent new gTLD applicant. In August 2012, Fausett was hired to serve on ICM Registry's legal team for their case against Manwin Licensing.

Early Internet Work

Mr. Fausett has been working with a variety of business in establishing and protecting their online presence and brands since 1997. In that year, he was succesfully involved with one of the first domain disputes between a trademark owner and a domain name registrant; the dispute was over the domain "earth.com". In 1998, he began working with Hasbro to register and protect their large portfolio of games, which led to the establishment of one of the first online gaming sites, "games.com".

Career History

Mr. Fausett has worked with numerous Law Firms as Partner, Associate and Of Council. Previously, from 2010 until 2011, Fausett was Of Counsel at Alvarado Smith, where he was a member of the Intellectual Property and Litigation departments. While there, he handled intellectual property and licensing issues, and represented a large domain name registrar with regards to its Internet activities, and a major U.S. sporting goods manufacturer with regards to its business in Califronia. From 1998 to 2008, Fausett served on ICANN's ALAC. From 2000 to 2006 he was a Partner at Hancock, Rothert & Bunshoft, LLP, and from 2000 until 2003 he wrote the "Legal Code" column for the CMP's New Architect and Web Techniques magazines. He worked for the AIP/Webmaster's Guild from 1995 to 1999 and was an Associate at Choate, Hall & Stewart from 1992 until 1997. Fausett has written numerous articles for publications such as New Architect, Web Techniques, the San Francisco Daily Journal and the Los Angeles Daily Journal.

In 2008, Bret Fausett was invited to speak at the United Nations' Internet Governance Forum in Hyderabad, India. He presented a paper on the legality of using local points of control, such as domain name registrars and registries, hosting companies and IP addresses, to regulate international conduct.

Awards

Fausett won the 2003 Maggie Award for "Best Regular Feature," from the Western Publishers Association for his work with the CMP Media Web Techniques and New Architect Magazine from 200 to 2003. In 2000, Fausett was AIP's nominee for membership on the FTC's “Advisory Committee on Online Access and Security”.

Associations

Fausett has been a member of the Federal Bar Association since 2004 and a member of the Association of Business Trial Lawers since 2003.

Work with ICANN

On behalf of the AIP and other organizations, Fausett played a part in the discussions leading to ICANN's creation. Fausett spent 10 years (1998-2008) as a member of ICANN's At-Large Advisory Committee, in 2005 he was appointed as the At-Large liaison to the GNSO. He has served as a member of ICANN's Names Council and on the Nominating Committee. Additionally, Fausett served as Chair of the policies and procedures working group of ICANN's Domain Name Supporting Organization. Bret Fausett regularly comments on issues surrounding ICANN and Internet governance policies in his blog and social media platforms.

He has been vocal on a number of industry platforms since the very beginnings of ICANN. He has been a long supporter of removing American oversight of the Internet and recognizing its international nature.

In a letter dated December 8th, 2011, Bret Fausett, along with twenty-seven other domain name industry representatives, wrote to Sen. Jay Rockefeller and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to support ICANN's new gTLD program, in response to the Senate Hearings taking place on the same day. They supported ICANN's argument that the program would be innovative and economically beneficial, and noted that the program took a diverse group of international stakeholders years to develop. The letter can be found here.

Fun Fact

Bret coaches girl's softball every spring and it's the favorite thing that he does.

Education

Vanderbilt University Law School J.D., Law 1985-1988 Three-year Patrick Wilson Scholar in Law

University of Southern California A. B, Philosophy 1981-1985

Generic Names Supporting Organization. Develops and recommends to the Board substantive policies relating to generic top-level domains and other responsibilities set forth in the Bylaws (ICANN Bylaws).