GeoPublishers Expo to be held in Chicago from September 30th to October 2nd 2011

GeoPublishers.com is the new trade association for the geodomain industry. The inaugural Expo will be in Chicago at the Fairmont Hotel. Starting with the President’s reception on Friday 30 September, there will be a day-and-a-half program of keynotes and
panels, and a sponsored dinner on Saturday 1 October.

Speakers so far confirmed include

• Don Jones, President of New Orleans.com
• Gordon Borrell, CEO of Borrell Associates
• Sandy Martin, Director of Mobile, Schurz Communications
• Sara Mannix, Mannix Marketin
• Dan Hippler, VP Marketing, Vegas.com
• Sean Miller, NewYorkCity.com

Registrations are now open for the early bird price discount of $495 (and reduced pricing of $395 for second and subsequent registrations from the same company).

Details are on the event’s website at www.geopublishers.com/geo-publishers-expo.

While Chicago is doing everything it can to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, the bid team along with the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) is trying to take Chicago2016.com away from Stephen Frayne, a 29-year-old MBA student who is studying entrepreneurship at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Frayne purchased the domain in 2004 – nearly two years before Chicago’s Olympic bid was launched. But that doesn’t seem to matter to the Chicago bid team who claims the domain is rightfully theirs. Chicago 2016, which currently uses Chicago2016.org as its official website, has filed a complaint with an international arbitration organization in order to win control of the .com domain.

“We certainly see Chicago2016.com as the logical default domain for our site, and we believe having someone else control it is misleading for people seeking information about Chicago’s bid,” said Patrick Sandusky, a spokesman for Chicago 2016.

Frayne has responded by filing a lawsuit against Chicago 2016 and the USOC at the U.S. District Court in Chicago in an attempt to halt the arbitration proceedings and protect his claim on his coveted domain, claiming his only purpose for the domain is “public discussion”. His site clearly states that it is not the official web page for Chicago’s bid and includes links to the official site.

In recent years Frayne has purchased over 40 other domain names that combine a city name and year, including Tokyo2016.com – Tokyo is also bidding to host the 2016 Olympics.

[via Chicago Tribune]

Once again we were live blogging the Domain Auction at the Geodomain Expo in Chicago. The table below has now been verified to match the official results. Unsold and additional names will be listed in the Extended Online Auction, which ends Thursday, July 17th, 2008.

The highest sale was SantaClara.com $82,500, 40 of 191 names sold for a total of $279,000. The detailed results after the jump.
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There are only a few days left to save big on the 2008 GeoDomain Expo in Chicago. By registering before June 1, you’ll pay only $595. After that, anybody who wishes to attend the event will have to pay a minimum of $695.

The GeoDomain Expo, presented by Associated Cities, will take place on July 11 and 12 in Chicago, Illinois. This event is the only chance you’ll have this year to meet with the owners of more than 100 major destination sites including NewYorkCity.com, LosAngeles.com, Chicago.com, SanFrancisco.com, Dallas.com, Atlanta.com, Nashville.com and more.

[via SimplyGeo]