With the 2015 NamesCon conference now less than eight weeks away, more key components of the January 11-14 event at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas are falling into place - with the latest one sure to surprise some observers. Today NamesCon organizers named J. Scott Evans,  Associate General Counsel at Adobe Systems and President Elect of the International Trademark Association (INTA) as one of the show's keynote speakers (Mr. Evans will have assumed the INTA Presidency by the time he addresses the NamesCon audience).

In bringing Mr. Evans to Namescon, conference Co-Producer Jothan Frakes (whom we referred to as the "domain world's leading diplomat" in our July 2014 Cover Story) hopes to bring two camps that have traditionally been wary of each other closer together. Frakes told us, "My objective is to help people in the conference get a better understanding and appreciation of the INTA and (hopefully) create positive friction leveraging the networking opportunities at the conference to help improve the relationships and close or at least narrow the chasm between the perspectives of intellectual property interests and the entrepreneurial domain interests."

Frakes added, "J. Scott has an amazing background, including helping create UDRP. It 

INTA President-Elect J. Scott Evans
will be a keynote speaker at NamesCon 

is my hope that by attempting to bridge these worlds there can be some gains in the area of improved industry perceptions of the entrepreneurial marketplace, plus there are many IP lawyers coming, and the benefits of friendly first contact that started 10 years ago when I mashed up these worlds at the Domain Roundtable are getting an opportunity to benefit again."

"To use a food metaphor, when I was served a salad with pears in it the first time, I thought it was a bizarre concept, but I tried it, and it was one of the most amazing salads I ever had," Frakes said. "This is exactly that type of situation, and I think that the audience will really appreciate J. Scott as a dynamic speaker, plus having such a massive, prestigious, well established organization like the INTA participate on this level at a domain industry gathering like NamesCon is another unprecedented event. Conference Richard Lau, Co-Producer Jodi Chamberlain and I are all delighted to welcome J. Scott to the NamesCon in January."

Mr. Evans will join a distinguished group of keynote speakers at the upcoming 2nd annual edition of NamesCon (the show made a successful debut at the Tropicana in January 2014). Also delivering keynotes will be Howard Lefkowitz (CEO, 1DegreeWorld.com), Frank Schilling (Founder, Uniregistry), Khaled Fattal (CEO, MLiGroup) and Jennifer Wolfe (IP strategist and author) - an impressive roster that will likely expand further between now and opening day at NamesCon January 11.