Sex.com owner Gary Kremen is slated as a guest luncheon speaker at the 19th Annual Intellectual Property Law Conference on April 2. Kremen is expected to discuss his legal battle over Sex.com and other relevant matters under the rubric, "What does Trover have to do with the Internet," during his address.
“I am honored to be a part of this seminal conference,” Kremen said in a statement. “It’s important to dispel the myths about intellectual property, especially in the Digital Age. Changes in IP law and practice mean we need to continue to define intellectual property in this legal arena. This is especially true of intangible intellectual property that is non defined by statue – unlike the more common patents, trademarks and copyrights.”
"Gary Kremen has played a leading role in defining the contours of property rights in cyberspace," William Bode, general counsel to the American Internet Registrants Association, said in his own statement. “He is also a very engaging and forceful personality. I eagerly look forward to his presentation at the April 2 Intellectual Property Law Conference."
The conference runs April 1-2 at the International Trade Center of the Ronald Reagan Federal Building in San Francisco. Its focus this year will be recent developments in prosecution, litigation, and licensing issues surrounding intellectual property, organizers said, with sessions including specific areas of practice like patents, trademarks, and copyrights, not to mention "the problems and issues related to holes in 21st-century IP law and practice."
Kremen lost Sex.com when Stephen Cohen hijacked it in the late 1990s, forcing Kremen to sue him in federal court. Kremen won a $60 million judgment in 2000, but Cohen – who tried and failed to get the judgment overturned on appeal – has failed to pay and is regarded as a fugitive reportedly living abroad. Kremen's parallel litigation against Network Solutions and VeriSign – whom Cohen deked out of Sex.com with a forged letter – still awaits trial.
