This blog has been developed in order to record the way we developed the ISSCIO website, with no regard to the things on this way being the setbacks or breakthroughs. While it is mainly the developments that I talk in this blog, this time it is rather a mix of both.
As you know, the very tragic events happened in Japan on and after March 11 this year. And while the general manager Lucas Vall departed, with a one day-delay, to the U.S. for ICANN meeting the next day after the earthquake, I myself had followed the example of many others moving further to the south to escape recurring aftershocks and blackouts. Because of this, the activity of ISSCIO has been almost completely impaired for about two weeks and started to activate little by little just after that. It is finally reaching its full power right now, after the blackouts in Tokyo were stopped till summer.
The setback in ISSCIO activity has definitely had a negative impact on our IP community as we were not able to reach out to many of lawyers or continue working on new projects. Despite this, there was no dropping down in the visits to the site due to the increased popularity of ISSCIO topics in Google. The most popular topics in Google remain TM: Turkey and Cyprus (due to the very good information posted by experts in it), joined by a rising in popularity .XXX.
We are grateful to all of those who sent the warm mails of support after the disaster, thank you very much!
Wishing you all the very best in your business and hoping for further cooperation,
Olga Yevetska
ISSCIO Operations Manager
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
ICANN approved dot XXX: the post dot COM era Internet has begun
ICANN has approved, albeit after a long and arduous process, the adult industry top level domain dot XXX. If the ICANN policymaking process is not disrupted we should be able to see dot XXX domains sooner than later.
Many people actually oppose the dot XXX initiative raising some noble arguments, like freedom of speech or child abuse. I could go on and on with arguments in favor of and against these and other objections in relation to dot XXX.
But, no matter what side of the fence you stand on, if you are a content creator and trademark holder, one of the issues when a new space on the Internet becomes available is money. That is, because of the new real estate up for grabs, many foresee the need to secure domains, as a burden that they had better avoid.
In the case of dot XXX the problem actually lies in thinking of dot XXX in terms of the dot COM era. Content producers or right holders should stop thinking this way and realize how the post dot COM era of the Internet will (or should) work, especially with many more TLD coming in the (near) future. Let's face it; dot COM is the Wild Wild West. If dot XXX were to be defined under the same terms as dot COM, then it would be just adding land for bandits to roam freely.
But ICM Registry, the company behind dot XXX (to which I am not affiliated in any way), will verify those registering domains within dot XXX, and thus consumers will know that while inside a dot XXX domain, the content providers are legal and their transactions secure. There will be few typo domains trying to fish people, few parked domains, few spam mail from dot XXX illegal sites.
In the post dot COM era Internet users will be able to distinguish bad neighborhoods from good ones. In the case of dot XXX, an adult content user can feel secure when giving his credit card information to a dot XXX domain (as it is a verified company, that is legal and uses secure transactions), while he or she will think twice if it is a dot COM domain.
This actually could generates extra business for the content creators from risk-averse costumers. They should actually embrace this kind of space instead of oppose it (if they are actually verifiable, legal and secure companies). Dot XXX domains run at a premium price, yes, but there is no need to register typos or wildcards. Actually, thanks to an educated user that will stay within dot XXX for adult content, today's dot COM adult related domain portfolios, which include thousand of typos for protection purposes, become irrelevant. Thus, content creators can further save money by takings down domains in bad neighborhoods; after all users will not go there. Of course, companies can still keep their dot COM domains for their brands.
There is also an alternative for brand owners not related to the adult industry. They can actually block once their brands forever (for more on this check ISSCIO.com dot XXX TOPIC). So opting out is not that expensive. They should also expect minimum abuse within dot XXX as only verified companies can register domains, which won't risk their verified status or paid premium prices for illegal domains.
For new gTLDs we can expect similar scenarios. Again, with time (and internet users do learn fast) users will be able to distinguish good neighborhoods from bad ones, and brand owners should do the same. Brand owners should recognize where there is a good initiative and take advantages from it (or opt out). Also, they should probably ignore bad initiatives. Probably, no one will end up visiting those sites anyway (and the Google bus won't take you there neither). This way brand owners can minimize costs and potentially make gains.
I'm neither for nor against adult content per se. This is actually not a discussion about that. Dot XXX approval is a discussion about what kind of Internet we want. New gTLDs will allow us to make better choices by distinguishing what are good places for me (or my family) from those which I would like to keep at a distance. Dot XXX is a great step toward the post dot COM era and will allows us to learn important lessons we can use once thousand of new gTLDs become available.
Lucas Vall
ISSCIO General Manager
NOTE: We generally use this blog space to talk about the advances of ISSCIO.com community website. Since my colleges have been doing a great job in this area this time I wanted to shares with the IP community some personal insights on New gTLDs and dot XXX as they will shape the way IP professionals perform their jobs in the Internet.
Many people actually oppose the dot XXX initiative raising some noble arguments, like freedom of speech or child abuse. I could go on and on with arguments in favor of and against these and other objections in relation to dot XXX.
But, no matter what side of the fence you stand on, if you are a content creator and trademark holder, one of the issues when a new space on the Internet becomes available is money. That is, because of the new real estate up for grabs, many foresee the need to secure domains, as a burden that they had better avoid.
In the case of dot XXX the problem actually lies in thinking of dot XXX in terms of the dot COM era. Content producers or right holders should stop thinking this way and realize how the post dot COM era of the Internet will (or should) work, especially with many more TLD coming in the (near) future. Let's face it; dot COM is the Wild Wild West. If dot XXX were to be defined under the same terms as dot COM, then it would be just adding land for bandits to roam freely.
But ICM Registry, the company behind dot XXX (to which I am not affiliated in any way), will verify those registering domains within dot XXX, and thus consumers will know that while inside a dot XXX domain, the content providers are legal and their transactions secure. There will be few typo domains trying to fish people, few parked domains, few spam mail from dot XXX illegal sites.
In the post dot COM era Internet users will be able to distinguish bad neighborhoods from good ones. In the case of dot XXX, an adult content user can feel secure when giving his credit card information to a dot XXX domain (as it is a verified company, that is legal and uses secure transactions), while he or she will think twice if it is a dot COM domain.
This actually could generates extra business for the content creators from risk-averse costumers. They should actually embrace this kind of space instead of oppose it (if they are actually verifiable, legal and secure companies). Dot XXX domains run at a premium price, yes, but there is no need to register typos or wildcards. Actually, thanks to an educated user that will stay within dot XXX for adult content, today's dot COM adult related domain portfolios, which include thousand of typos for protection purposes, become irrelevant. Thus, content creators can further save money by takings down domains in bad neighborhoods; after all users will not go there. Of course, companies can still keep their dot COM domains for their brands.
There is also an alternative for brand owners not related to the adult industry. They can actually block once their brands forever (for more on this check ISSCIO.com dot XXX TOPIC). So opting out is not that expensive. They should also expect minimum abuse within dot XXX as only verified companies can register domains, which won't risk their verified status or paid premium prices for illegal domains.
For new gTLDs we can expect similar scenarios. Again, with time (and internet users do learn fast) users will be able to distinguish good neighborhoods from bad ones, and brand owners should do the same. Brand owners should recognize where there is a good initiative and take advantages from it (or opt out). Also, they should probably ignore bad initiatives. Probably, no one will end up visiting those sites anyway (and the Google bus won't take you there neither). This way brand owners can minimize costs and potentially make gains.
I'm neither for nor against adult content per se. This is actually not a discussion about that. Dot XXX approval is a discussion about what kind of Internet we want. New gTLDs will allow us to make better choices by distinguishing what are good places for me (or my family) from those which I would like to keep at a distance. Dot XXX is a great step toward the post dot COM era and will allows us to learn important lessons we can use once thousand of new gTLDs become available.
Lucas Vall
ISSCIO General Manager
NOTE: We generally use this blog space to talk about the advances of ISSCIO.com community website. Since my colleges have been doing a great job in this area this time I wanted to shares with the IP community some personal insights on New gTLDs and dot XXX as they will shape the way IP professionals perform their jobs in the Internet.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Intellectual Property Newsletters, new gTLDs, and many more to add to ISSCIO resources
General Manager of ISSCIO, Lucas is busy working on other projects, so i am stepping in to post some updates on the journey of ISSCIO.
The first month of 2011 for ISSCIO was filled with the extensive work on projects related to changes in ISSCIO content and design. ISSCIO popularity as a community IP site is growing steadily.
ISSCIO is working in the direction of expanding its content. As you already know, ISSCIO is increasing the scope of the topics within its Domain Name sphere to include new gTLDs. New gTLD topics are expected to contain complete and useful information about the initiatives of proposed new top level domains, such as .green (dot green), .love (dot love), or .xxx (dot xxx). We are happy to acknowledge that those behind some of the New gTLD initiatives have already edited their topics, including ICM Registry that helped us with .xxx initiative. We are grateful to all those who shared information on ISSCIO and hope for further cooperation.
Another addition to the content of ISSCIO is including of NEWS and LINKS sections on the top of the information about Trademarks and Domain Names in each topic. NEWS and LINKS are expected to become another useful resource of information for ISSCIO users. As such, we are including the links to “Whois” domain name check for each country as well as the links to the governmental IP institutions, trademarks and domain names-related legal documents and many others. We encourage you to include links to your favorite Intellectual Property blogs or Newsletters in the LINKS section.
Related to the collection of links, we are currently working on the RESOURCE AREA within ISSCIO. This area will include a collection of links to useful resources such as Official Trademark Search Pages, IP blogs, IP Newsletters, etc. There will be some changes to design of ISSCIO as well. We are hoping to get your feedback and suggestions on the content and changes to ISSCIO.
As you could see, we are constantly working on the quality and the scope of ISSCIO as a global portal of IP information. At the same time, ISSCIO content relies on your contribution and we would like to once again encourage you to share information: edit topics, send us the links to your favorite blogs and newsletters. We will be happy to upload the information for you in case you would like to send it by mail to us, and upgrade your ranking.
Olga Yevetska
ISSCIO Operation Manager
The first month of 2011 for ISSCIO was filled with the extensive work on projects related to changes in ISSCIO content and design. ISSCIO popularity as a community IP site is growing steadily.
ISSCIO is working in the direction of expanding its content. As you already know, ISSCIO is increasing the scope of the topics within its Domain Name sphere to include new gTLDs. New gTLD topics are expected to contain complete and useful information about the initiatives of proposed new top level domains, such as .green (dot green), .love (dot love), or .xxx (dot xxx). We are happy to acknowledge that those behind some of the New gTLD initiatives have already edited their topics, including ICM Registry that helped us with .xxx initiative. We are grateful to all those who shared information on ISSCIO and hope for further cooperation.
Another addition to the content of ISSCIO is including of NEWS and LINKS sections on the top of the information about Trademarks and Domain Names in each topic. NEWS and LINKS are expected to become another useful resource of information for ISSCIO users. As such, we are including the links to “Whois” domain name check for each country as well as the links to the governmental IP institutions, trademarks and domain names-related legal documents and many others. We encourage you to include links to your favorite Intellectual Property blogs or Newsletters in the LINKS section.
Related to the collection of links, we are currently working on the RESOURCE AREA within ISSCIO. This area will include a collection of links to useful resources such as Official Trademark Search Pages, IP blogs, IP Newsletters, etc. There will be some changes to design of ISSCIO as well. We are hoping to get your feedback and suggestions on the content and changes to ISSCIO.
As you could see, we are constantly working on the quality and the scope of ISSCIO as a global portal of IP information. At the same time, ISSCIO content relies on your contribution and we would like to once again encourage you to share information: edit topics, send us the links to your favorite blogs and newsletters. We will be happy to upload the information for you in case you would like to send it by mail to us, and upgrade your ranking.
Olga Yevetska
ISSCIO Operation Manager
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Press release and ICANN Meeting, New gTLD topics
It has been longer than usual since our last blog, the reason being the many activities regarding ISSCIO.com that we have been doing.
To begin with, ISSCIO.com was announced in Japan through a press release to our colleges, partners and clients. Immediately after the press release we experienced a spike in visits to the site, as expected. But what is more importent, many of our clients and partners are now enquiring about the site when we visit them. They want to know more about it, its potential as a communication tool and the ways to get involved. It may take some time until everybody "gets" ISSCIO.com, but surely we are heading in that direction.
We also had the chance to introduce ISSCIO.com to some participants of the 39th ICANN meeting in Cartagena, Colombia. Most of them were Top Level Domain (TLD) registries and some registrars, meaning that many Domain Name topics will get information directly from the source.
Additionally, in the ICANN event we had the chance to meet with many potential New gTLDs (which were one of the main "attractions" of the meeting). New gTLD initiatives are expected to be launching once the program starts and will revolutionize the domain name space, today limited to .com and other few generic TLD and country code TLDs (like .jp).
From an Intellectual Property perspective, many new TLDs means that trademark holders do have to know how to protect their rights in every one of them. Thus knowing in advance what each New gTLD initiative has planned for trademark protection mechanisms is very useful information. Therefore, from this month we are adding New gTLD topics to ISSCIO.com, like DotXXX (.xxx) or DotFree (.free). More important we are contacting directly the people behind each initiative to help us complete the information in each topic. So please keep visiting ISSCIO.com to be up to date with these New gTLDs.
Finally, let me wish everybody in the ISSCIO.com community a happy holiday season. We also would like to thank you for your support and for helping us make ISSCIO.com community a little better every day. Let that continue next year.
Best wishes,
Lucas Vall
General Manager
To begin with, ISSCIO.com was announced in Japan through a press release to our colleges, partners and clients. Immediately after the press release we experienced a spike in visits to the site, as expected. But what is more importent, many of our clients and partners are now enquiring about the site when we visit them. They want to know more about it, its potential as a communication tool and the ways to get involved. It may take some time until everybody "gets" ISSCIO.com, but surely we are heading in that direction.
We also had the chance to introduce ISSCIO.com to some participants of the 39th ICANN meeting in Cartagena, Colombia. Most of them were Top Level Domain (TLD) registries and some registrars, meaning that many Domain Name topics will get information directly from the source.
Additionally, in the ICANN event we had the chance to meet with many potential New gTLDs (which were one of the main "attractions" of the meeting). New gTLD initiatives are expected to be launching once the program starts and will revolutionize the domain name space, today limited to .com and other few generic TLD and country code TLDs (like .jp).
From an Intellectual Property perspective, many new TLDs means that trademark holders do have to know how to protect their rights in every one of them. Thus knowing in advance what each New gTLD initiative has planned for trademark protection mechanisms is very useful information. Therefore, from this month we are adding New gTLD topics to ISSCIO.com, like DotXXX (.xxx) or DotFree (.free). More important we are contacting directly the people behind each initiative to help us complete the information in each topic. So please keep visiting ISSCIO.com to be up to date with these New gTLDs.
Finally, let me wish everybody in the ISSCIO.com community a happy holiday season. We also would like to thank you for your support and for helping us make ISSCIO.com community a little better every day. Let that continue next year.
Best wishes,
Lucas Vall
General Manager
Monday, October 25, 2010
Good news for ISSCIO.com community
ISSCIO.com is everyday looking like a better portal for Intellectual Property thanks to an ever growing expert directory (more than 150 firms now) and great content. On top of that, as I hinted in last blog, we have much good news coming this way that will take ISSCIO.com to the next stage.
First, Ms. Olga Yevetska has joined me in the ISSCIO.com project team. This will allow us to develop a better site and improve the relationship with experts and users, something that is always a priority.
Second, and if you have been visiting the site in the last week you may have noted, we have made some design adjustments. We gave more space for information and less for navigation, and we put the log in and sign up buttons in a better location. On top of that we remade the homepage. Also we have fixed some bugs when using older browsers, even thou we still recommend browsers such us Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. These seem small changes (and some too in the tech side) but we believe will improve the experience of using ISSCIO.com.
Finally, important news comes from our funding company, Brights Consulting Inc. Now that the site has starting to gain momentum, our parent company will start making a more intensive use of ISSCIO.com. From tomorrow we are going to start posting questions in the Q&A section as Brights Consulting Inc. to engage experts directly through the site. Moreover, other company systems (used by our clients) will start using ISSCIO.com as reference for information and will heavily link to the site. Last, and this is very important news, we have decided that ISSCIO.com has reached a point where it can be introduced to the Intellectual Property Community in Japan. Therefore Brights Consulting Inc. will announce the site to thousands of IP specialist within Japanese companies by November 25th. This is, needless to say, a great opportunity for all experts in ISSCIO.com. Thus we encourage them to update their profiles and to contribute to topics information (and questions) to gain more visibility.
With all these good news is exciting time for ISSCIO.com and it means, no doubt, that the site will become an even better portal for Intellectual Property.
Lucas Vall
General Manager
First, Ms. Olga Yevetska has joined me in the ISSCIO.com project team. This will allow us to develop a better site and improve the relationship with experts and users, something that is always a priority.
Second, and if you have been visiting the site in the last week you may have noted, we have made some design adjustments. We gave more space for information and less for navigation, and we put the log in and sign up buttons in a better location. On top of that we remade the homepage. Also we have fixed some bugs when using older browsers, even thou we still recommend browsers such us Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. These seem small changes (and some too in the tech side) but we believe will improve the experience of using ISSCIO.com.
Finally, important news comes from our funding company, Brights Consulting Inc. Now that the site has starting to gain momentum, our parent company will start making a more intensive use of ISSCIO.com. From tomorrow we are going to start posting questions in the Q&A section as Brights Consulting Inc. to engage experts directly through the site. Moreover, other company systems (used by our clients) will start using ISSCIO.com as reference for information and will heavily link to the site. Last, and this is very important news, we have decided that ISSCIO.com has reached a point where it can be introduced to the Intellectual Property Community in Japan. Therefore Brights Consulting Inc. will announce the site to thousands of IP specialist within Japanese companies by November 25th. This is, needless to say, a great opportunity for all experts in ISSCIO.com. Thus we encourage them to update their profiles and to contribute to topics information (and questions) to gain more visibility.
With all these good news is exciting time for ISSCIO.com and it means, no doubt, that the site will become an even better portal for Intellectual Property.
Lucas Vall
General Manager
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
A critical mass of content and a new phase
NOTE: It has been about 1 month a half since my last blog: sorry but holidays, earthquakes and the like has delayed this monthly blog.
Since day one I have always talked about content and making ISSCIO.com useful (that also applies to many websites). As a matter of fact, we worked hard for the site to have a critical mass in terms of content. Without this critical mass the site would appear empty, users won’t come or if they do come they won’t return, search results won’t show the site and so on. Therefore it has always been important to create information and provide experts and law firms.
Today there are over 110 listed experts, not only IP law firms but also Domain Name registries and consulting firms. If that number does not seem that large, you may also consider that these 110 experts are from over 70 different countries. I have added a map to show how diverse the locations of the experts are. ISSCIO.com is indeed a great place to start when you are looking at intellectual property all around the globe.
We also have more that 60 topics that have some information and that are already indexed in search results on the Internet. The more complete topics are more popular and thus we always encourage experts to add as much information as possible. But with such a range of diverse topics even experts use ISSCIO.com as reference.
Looking at ISSCIO.com achievements in terms of experts and topics we think we have reached the critical mass needed to move forward; moving forward in terms of starting to actively show the web site to professionals in Intellectual Property, dedicated websites, blogs and many other audiences that would definitely find ISSCIO.com useful. We are not a web site that will become viral and growth 1000% overnight. We are indeed a very specific web site targeting a small yet important market. However stay around because in this new phase we believe ISSCIO.com will start to grow more rapidly and be more useful both to experts and users.
Lucas Vall
General Manager
Since day one I have always talked about content and making ISSCIO.com useful (that also applies to many websites). As a matter of fact, we worked hard for the site to have a critical mass in terms of content. Without this critical mass the site would appear empty, users won’t come or if they do come they won’t return, search results won’t show the site and so on. Therefore it has always been important to create information and provide experts and law firms.
Today there are over 110 listed experts, not only IP law firms but also Domain Name registries and consulting firms. If that number does not seem that large, you may also consider that these 110 experts are from over 70 different countries. I have added a map to show how diverse the locations of the experts are. ISSCIO.com is indeed a great place to start when you are looking at intellectual property all around the globe.
We also have more that 60 topics that have some information and that are already indexed in search results on the Internet. The more complete topics are more popular and thus we always encourage experts to add as much information as possible. But with such a range of diverse topics even experts use ISSCIO.com as reference.
Looking at ISSCIO.com achievements in terms of experts and topics we think we have reached the critical mass needed to move forward; moving forward in terms of starting to actively show the web site to professionals in Intellectual Property, dedicated websites, blogs and many other audiences that would definitely find ISSCIO.com useful. We are not a web site that will become viral and growth 1000% overnight. We are indeed a very specific web site targeting a small yet important market. However stay around because in this new phase we believe ISSCIO.com will start to grow more rapidly and be more useful both to experts and users.
Lucas Vall
General Manager
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
About professional directories, Internet content and ISSCIO.com lists
ISSCIO.com is getting better and better by the day. We surpassed the 50 experts mark, over 30 topics have been edited and we are getting more new additions all the time. But better than that the site is starting to be useful to Internet users looking for information thanks to the content provided by the experts. Indeed, thanks to Google many users have come looking for things like “trademark renewals spain”, “indonesia trademark opposition” or “registration and protection of collective trade marks in Tanzania” (wow!).
The site is indeed growing and now many more experts are added every day into our Expert list. ISSCIO.com, like many professional directories, has a list of experts where you can find an IP lawyer firm in many countries. This is indeed a very useful function for users that are looking for a lawyer in a specific country. For lawyers’ firms it is a chance to be listed and make their profile available to Internet users. They can even add their logo, for free (not like other directories). Moreover, they can even have a link back to their web page (great for SEO!).
But, and I think I have said this before, ISSCIO.com is much more than just lists of Experts. ISSCIO.com provides content, and with content, lists of experts that are knowledgeable about it and have proven so by providing that information. These expert lawyers’ firms are not only listed in the Expert list, but also in TOP EXPERTS, right in the same page with the information. TOP EXPERTS are part of the content (in other words, “Information & experts in one page”).
Why do we have TOP EXPERTS? Very simple: this way ISSCIO.com can rank experts based on their participation, and can list experts according to their expertise. This way ISSCIO.com promotes participation and creation of up to date and accurate information.
And you may ask, why would we want to have this information? Very simple: most users do not look for a lawyer, they look for information, and then for an expert lawyer. Well, with information and TOP EXPERTS in one page, a topic page contains all a user needs. That is why ISSCIO.com, and its content, are more than a simple professional list.
There is one final point I would like to make about content: topics are freely created, meaning that experts can add or delete information at will.
We have added some guideline questions to simplify edition but experts could also freely add links to a newsletter (even their own), news sources, or an interesting blog related to the topic. This is another way ISSCIO.com can become a very useful tool for the IP community.
Lucas Vall
General Manager
The site is indeed growing and now many more experts are added every day into our Expert list. ISSCIO.com, like many professional directories, has a list of experts where you can find an IP lawyer firm in many countries. This is indeed a very useful function for users that are looking for a lawyer in a specific country. For lawyers’ firms it is a chance to be listed and make their profile available to Internet users. They can even add their logo, for free (not like other directories). Moreover, they can even have a link back to their web page (great for SEO!).
But, and I think I have said this before, ISSCIO.com is much more than just lists of Experts. ISSCIO.com provides content, and with content, lists of experts that are knowledgeable about it and have proven so by providing that information. These expert lawyers’ firms are not only listed in the Expert list, but also in TOP EXPERTS, right in the same page with the information. TOP EXPERTS are part of the content (in other words, “Information & experts in one page”).
Why do we have TOP EXPERTS? Very simple: this way ISSCIO.com can rank experts based on their participation, and can list experts according to their expertise. This way ISSCIO.com promotes participation and creation of up to date and accurate information.
And you may ask, why would we want to have this information? Very simple: most users do not look for a lawyer, they look for information, and then for an expert lawyer. Well, with information and TOP EXPERTS in one page, a topic page contains all a user needs. That is why ISSCIO.com, and its content, are more than a simple professional list.
There is one final point I would like to make about content: topics are freely created, meaning that experts can add or delete information at will.
We have added some guideline questions to simplify edition but experts could also freely add links to a newsletter (even their own), news sources, or an interesting blog related to the topic. This is another way ISSCIO.com can become a very useful tool for the IP community.
Lucas Vall
General Manager
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