Wiley Rein Attorneys Weigh in with Bloomberg BNA on Key Online Law Issues for 2014

Ambassador David A. Gross, chair of Wiley Rein’s International Telecommunications Group, and partners Scott D. Delacourt and David E. Weslow weighed in with Bloomberg BNA yesterday on areas of online law that are likely to be most important to their practices this year.  The publication asked attorneys to submit short insights for the article, similar to tweets.

Amb. Gross said 2014 may bring more global consensus on the future of the Internet, following the 2012 World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) treaty that the U.S. and 54 other countries rejected.  Some countries sought to have the treaty include a new Internet governance role for the United Nations’ (UN) International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

“After the world spent 2013 recovering from WCIT, 2014 will be the year of major events and potential decisions at the UN, the ITU, and elsewhere (Brazil, London, etc.),” said Amb. Gross, who previously served as the U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy and was a member of the U.S. delegation at WCIT.  “Those meetings may determine the future course of Internet governance—hopefully reflecting an inclusive, positive vision that will continue to encourage new and innovative technologies and services that can serve the world.”

Mr. Delacourt, a partner in the Communications and Privacy practices, said the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) role in privacy enforcement will be a key issue this year.  “Whether the FTC has the lead in protecting consumer privacy will be decided in 2014—either in the courts or by legislation,” he said.

Mr. Weslow, a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice, focused on new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) being issued by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.  “New gTLDs will reshape online brand protection efforts and will require more targeted and deliberative trademark enforcement by brand owners,” he said.  Mr. Weslow also predicted that “circuit splits on interpretation of the [Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act] will continue to grow as claims against domain name service providers increase.”

For more information, please contact David A. Gross at 202.719.7414 or dgross@wiley.law, Scott D. Delacourt at 202.719.7459 or sdelacourt@wiley.law, or David E. Weslow at 202.719.7525 or dweslow@wiley.law.