While we were meeting and partying at Domainfest, The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA), held a meeting on Friday in Washigton, featuring Keynote speaker,  Utah State Senate Stephen Urquhart who presented his “Utah E-Commerce Integrity Act“,

“”which is considered a harbinger for changes to the federal Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA).””

The Utah E-Commerce Integrity Act will be brought before Senator Urquhart’s committee tomorrow.

“The Utah E-Commerce Integrity Act aims to strengthen intellectual property protection and establish stronger sanctions for cybersquatting.”

“The Utah bill closely mirrors ACPA, which was introduced by U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) in 1999, but would “increase the minimum damages awarded in a cybersquatting suit and holding affiliates of cybersquatters responsible for their role in the practice.”

“””At the forum, CADNA President Josh Bourne praised brand owners for their efforts to combat Internet governance issues harming their businesses. “2010 is going to be a critical year for ICANN governance and anticybersquatting law changes. CADNA is hearing more and more concerns from brand owners about ICANN governance and accountability. Senator Urquhart’s bill in Utah will pave the way for federal changes to anticybersquatting laws,” said Bourne. “An overall audit of ICANN as an organization is necessary to answer open questions about the ICANN model. CADNA looks forward to being heavily involved in improving the Internet for businesses and consumers. I was very pleased to see a high level of interest at this forum.”

By the way one of key representatives for CADNA was in attendance at DomainFest.

Domainers of course had no representation at this meeting held in Washington.