On April 18-20, the 22nd Russian Internet Forum was held in the Moscow Region. The Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ traditionally supports the forum, and this year it hosted many business and entertainment events for participants.
The business agenda included several events that the Coordination Center took part in. On the first day of the forum, the center’s Director Andrey Vorobyev spoke at the opening ceremony and attended the Internet Development Institute’s Data Business section, where he presented the “Russian Internet Development Trends” survey the Coordination Center had carried out jointly with the Higher School of Economics.
On the second day, April 19, the Coordination Center held the Domains Vs. Stakeholders section, which was very active. A representative of the Association of Internet Trade Companies (AITC) proposed creating a list of intellectual property items, which would contain information on all copyrights, related rights items and trademarks the use of which is restricted by the domain delegation. The AITC believes this list would prevent registering domain names that include trademarks without the stakeholder’s permission. Other experts on the domain market disagreed with the idea, and the section saw strong disputes about the ways to protect intellectual property rights without damaging the market. On the same day, a closed meeting of the Coordination Center’s management with accredited domain registrars was held as part of the forum. The participants discussed cooperation issues between registrars and the Coordination Center that are related to registry changes and new demands for accredited organizations. In addition, the new rules for forming the .RU and .РФ stop list were touched on.
A meeting of the Coordination Center’s Committee for Domain Space Development was also held at the forum. The committee members discussed the impact amendments to the international legislation could have on the Russian domain registration system.
The entertainment part of the Coordination Center’s events was held throughout the entire forum. The activities were dedicated to football. For example, everyone who wanted to take part in the Sony PlayStation football competition gathered in the center’s large tent. Football connoisseurs were able to try their hand at a quiz, win souvenirs from the Coordination Center if they answered all the questions correctly, and have tea and cake. Despite the rain on the first day, the true sport fans demonstrated their football skills next to the tent in various contests along with a professional footballer and a hotshot fan.
Accredited .RU and .РФ registrars at the Coordination Center exhibit booth presented their services and held various quizzes and contests at the Coordination Center exhibit booth. In addition, the center organized a domain quest to encourage visitors to get around the large booth and see all the registrars. The winners received prizes from both the center and the registrars. After the quest, exhibition visitors were able to record themselves with football merchandise in a 3D video and a bullet time installation of the Coordination Center.
