[gnso-whois-wg] Statement of Interest - Kristina Rosette

["Rosette, Kristina" <krosette@xxxxxxx>]

Statement of Interest - Kristina Rosette

1. Current occupation, employer and position

I am employed as a Special Counsel by Covington & Burling LLP
("Covington"), a general practice law firm with over 600 lawyers in five
offices in three countries.  I am resident in Covington's Washington, DC
office and am a member of the District of Columbia bar.  Since 2004, I
have been a member of the Registration Practice and DNS Administration
Subcommittee of the International Trademark Association's Internet
Committee.  I am also the Intellectual Property Constituency
representative for North America to the GNSO Council.  

2. Type of work performed in 1 above

I specialize in Internet and trademark matters, and represent trademark
owner clients in connection with such matters.  Among my
responsibilities, I design online anti-fraud programs, develop and
implement offensive and defensive domain name registration, Internet
monitoring, and enforcement strategies; reclaim domain names through
negotiation, arbitration, and litigation; clear proposed marks for use
and registration in the United States and abroad; and conduct and
coordinate IP due diligence reviews in connection with corporate
transactions including, for example, mergers and acquisitions, corporate
financing, and debt restructuring.  

3. Financial ownership or management leadership of registries,
registrars or other firms that are interested parties in Whois

None at the present time.  I have determined that Covington did
represent the International Cooperative Alliance in connection with the
formation and establishment of DotCooperation LLC, the .coop registry
operator, but that matter has been closed for some time.  I have also
determined that Covington neither represents any gTLD or sTLD registry
operator in matters relating to its capacity as a registry operator nor
represents any client in matters adverse to such registry operators as
registry operators.  Based on the responses to my inquiries, Covington
does not represent any ccTLD registry operator in its capacity as a
registry operator nor does it represent any client in matters adverse to
any ccTLD registry operators as registry operators.  To the best of my
knowledge, Covington does not represent any ICANN-accredited registrar
in its capacity as a registrar nor does it represent any firm client in
a matter adverse to a registrar as registrar.  It is possible that a
firm client is an ICANN-accredited registrar, but, if so, Covington does
not represent it in such matters.

4. Nature of your interest in Whois

As one of the IPC representatives to the GNSO Council, one aspect of my
interest in Whois is to represent the interests and views of IPC members
and their effect and interaction with the domain name system.  On behalf
of the trademark owner clients I represent, I use Whois data regularly
(usually daily) to design online anti-fraud programs; to develop and
implement offensive and defensive domain name registration, Internet
monitoring, and enforcement strategies; to contact registered name
holders to purchase domain names; to develop and pursue arbitration
proceedings and litigation against parties using trademarks and domain
names that violate clients' intellectual property rights; to clear
proposed marks for use and registration in the United States and abroad;
and/or to verify domain name and other intellectual property portfolios
in connection with corporate transactions including, for example,
mergers and acquisitions, corporate financing, and debt restructuring.
Accordingly, I am interested in ensuring that parties with legitimate
interests in accessing the data currently contained in Whois continue to
have the ability to do so in furtherance of their legitimate activities.