IPC Outreach Strategic Plan

I. Vision

The Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC), as the voice for intellectual property in ICANN, should have a substantial and diverse membership, representative of the stakeholders IPC represents, actively helping to shape Internet/DNS policy within ICANN.

II. Mission

The Mission and Purpose of the IPC, as stated in our Bylaws, is to:

Represent the views and interests of owners of intellectual property worldwide with particular emphasis on trademark, copyright, and related intellectual property rights and their effect and interaction with Domain Name Systems (DNS), and to ensure that these views, including minority views, are reflected in the recommendations made by the GNSO Council to the ICANN Board.

More particularly, to review and raise all intellectual property matters including any proposals, issues, policies, or otherwise, which may affect intellectual property, particularly as it interfaces with the DNS, and to provide to the GNSO and the ICANN Board timely and expert advice before it must make any decision or take any position thereon.

Our membership consists of intellectual property and IP-related organizations, companies, law firms and individuals.  We represent the interests and concerns of IP creators, owners, licensees and distributors, as well as those of consumers, who depend on strong IP protections as an essential element of consumer confidence, consumer trust and consumer protection.

In order to fulfill our mission, IPC needs robust and sustained participation from the Intellectual Property community from all over the world.  The IPC should strive for its membership to be representative of the diversity in the IP community -- geographically, professionally, and culturally -- while satisfying the membership criteria for IPC.  In order to attract a broad base of membership, the IPC needs to engage with the IP community (broadly defined) so that the community is aware of us, our role in developing Internet policy, and the importance of membership in the IPC.  

The mission of the IPC in this Strategic Plan is to improve the IPC’s outreach and engagement, especially in areas where the IPC has historically been underrepresented, in order to attract additional active members, to ensure that the IPC remains highly connected to the IP world, and to ensure that the IPC remains a vibrant organization.

III. Goals and Objectives

Increasing IPC membership, increasing awareness of the IPC and improving member participation are the primary goals of this IPC Outreach & Engagement Strategic Plan.  Building on our outreach and engagement program will result in additional organizational, institutional and individual members, broader and more diverse global participation in the IPC, and more extensive and richer participation by the IPC within ICANN.  In so doing, the IPC will continue to add additional voices to the Constituency and the greater ICANN community, and strengthen the overall voice of the IPC.

A.    General Goals and Objectives

1. Increase number of active participants by 10% in the coming year

2. Increase the geographic regions represented

3. Increase the types of entities involved

1. Individuals - Students (legal or otherwise), attorneys, teachers and/or professors

2. Corporate and Law Firm members

3. Organizations -- Professional and trade associations

4. Improve engagement with existing members

B.    Specific Goals and Objectives

1. Improving Geographic Diversity

1. Currently, IPC has a relatively high concentration in North America and Europe, some active members from Latin America and Asia, and only a single member from Africa

2. Prioritize areas where we are underdeveloped

3. Improve representation from under-represented and unrepresented countries and regions

2. Increasing Size Overall

1. We represent the IP community well indirectly through our organizational members

2. However, given the size of the IP world, our direct membership could easily be larger.

3. Targeting Specific Demographics

1. IPC should identify under-represented and unrepresented types of members.

1. Target the “younger generation”

1. Younger professionals are underrepresented

2. No representation whatsoever at student level

3. These are the future leaders in IP and in the IPC

2. Identify organizations that aren’t members that should be

3. Identify corporations that aren’t members that should be

4. Target academics

4. Remove or Lower Barriers to Participation

1. Make participation easier worldwide, regardless of time zone or language

5. Improve Engagement

1. Provide easier access to knowledge

2. Demystify ICANN, IPC, DNS and Internet Governance

3. Provide more guidance and support to newcomers

4. Re-engage existing but inactive members

IV. Strategies & Actions

1. IPC Outreach & Engagement Task Force

The IPC has an Outreach & Engagement Task Force (“OETF”), which is primarily responsible for developing the strategies and carrying out the actions set forth in this Strategic Plan.  The OETF has formed subteams as necessary to carry out specific actions.

1. ICANN Supported Opportunities

The IPC welcomes the opportunities that CROP, the Fellowship Program and the Business Engagement initiative offer the IPC to expand understanding of and participation in ICANN activities by members of the intellectual property community. These and other ICANN-supported initiatives will contribute significantly to the IPC’s ability to achieve the goals and objectives outlined above.

1. Community Regional Outreach Program (CROP)
   1. CROP is a ICANN program which funds individual trips (amongst the GNSO Constituencies) for the purposes of conducting in-region outreach related to ICANN sponsored meetings.
      1. For FY19, CROP  offers GNSO Constituencies the following:
         1. Trip Allocations (4 days, 3 nights maximum)
         2. Three (3) individual regional trips
      2. OETF has formed a “CROP Subteam.”
      3. The CROP Subteam includes the IPC PPCs and other members of the OETF, along with the IPC Secretariat.
      4. The CROP Subteam is primarily responsible for the above actions.
      5. The CROP Subteam works to identify potential CROP opportunities to the OETF and then to IPC Leadership, with recommendations as needed.
      6. If approved by Leadership, the PPCs are then authorized to move forward with the CROP opportunity.
2. Fellowship Program:

   1. IPC has formed a Fellowship Team.

   2. The Fellowship Program provides travel expenses and an extensive orientation program for ICANN.

   3. IPC has traditionally had trouble taking advantage of this program.

   4. IPC continues to work with Fellowship contacts as well as ICANN staff responsible for the Fellowship program to understand why IPC has not been more successful, to help identify good candidates, prepare successful applications, and create user friendly materials to distribute to potential candidates.

   5. IPC is creating statistics of its membership base to better understand where it is under- represented and will use this information to target outreach efforts for Fellowship candidates.
      

3. Business Engagement
   1. ICANN has a business engagement team, headed by Chris Mondini.
   2. IPC has created a subteam to liaise with Business Engagement.
   3. Discuss what more we could be doing with Business Engagement.

C.    Independent (Non-ICANN Supported) Efforts

1.  Improving Geographic Diversity

   1. Reach out to organizational IPC members (INTA, MARQUES, ASIPI, etc.) with international membership to encourage their members to join IPC.
   2. Reach out to general and specialized bar organizations in targeted countries.
   3. Find ways to collaborate on outreach event (ideally, CROP-eligible travel for IPC person to attend).
2. Raise IPC Profile at upcoming existing IP and Internet related Events
   1. International Trademark Association (INTA) Leadership Meeting
   2. ICANN63 Barcelona
   3.  ICANN64 Kobe
   4.  ICANN65 Marrakech
   5.  INTA 2019 Annual Meeting
   6.  Marques meetings
   7.  Other Category 2 and 3 IPC members’ meetings
   8.  IGF meetings, both main and regional

3. Improve Marketing/Social Media/Internet Presence
   1. Make better use of new website
   2. Continue use of Twitter
   3. Review and revise brochure

   4. Consider other opportunities

4. Members need to reach out to their networks to increase participation and membership in IPC

   1. Organization members, including their individual representatives

   2. Individual members

5. Establish/expand IPC presence at Institutions and Organizations
   1. Schools/universities
   2. Corporate organizations
   3. Legal associations
   4. IP associations  
   5. Business associations
   6.  Technology businesses and organizations

6. Mentorship/Sherpa Program for Newcomers
   1. Newcomers are intimidated by overwhelming amount of information and web of relationships that need to be understood before being able to sufficiently participate.
   2. Experienced members could offer to help new members by:
      1.  Answering questions
      2.  Bringing them to meetings and maybe even sitting with them
      3. Introducing them to other members
   3. Consider assigning a mentor/sherpa to each newcomer.
   4. Mentorship subteam has been created
.
7. Academic Membership
   1.  Outreach to academics in the field
   2.  Need to make academics more comfortable in IPC
8. Globalize IPC Process
   1.  Time: Our membership calls are at a time which is not good for Asia/Australia/NZ; we should rotate call times to “share the pain.”
   2. Language: Our materials are solely in English. ICANN translation services should be utilized to translate key website and brochure content:
      1. ICANN Translation Services are available.  Languages of upcoming meetings should be prioritized (e.g., Spanish for INTA 2019 in Barcelona); need 1-2 months advance notice as these services are bottle-necked as a result of translating requests. Use IPC Secretariat to facilitate requests, or reach out to ICANN's Communications team.

V.  Prioritized Implementation Schedule/Timeline

Q4 2018

• Coordinate continued meetings of small subgroups with responsibility for specific efforts and aspects of Strategic Plan

• Reach out to IPC Membership for Expressions of Interest to utilize in-region CROP Funding

• Revise IPC Bylaws to incorporate student membership category and begin planning law school and other outreach activities

• ICANN63

• November 2018 – INTA Leadership Meeting Outreach & Engagement

• Improve Outreach and Engagement aspects of website.

Q1 2019

• Identify ICANN Fellowship candidates for ICANN64 & 65

• ICANN64 Outreach & Engagement (including CROP and ICANN Fellow participants)

• Continue to improve and refresh Outreach and Engagement aspects of website.

Q2 2019

• INTA Annual Meeting Outreach & Engagement

• Identify ICANN Fellowship candidates for ICANN65

• Develop continuous process for refreshing Outreach and Engagement aspects of website.

Q3 2019

• Identify ICANN Fellowship candidates for ICANN67

• ICANN66 Outreach & Engagement (including CROP and ICANN Fellow participants)

• Institute continuous process for refreshing Outreach and Engagement aspects of website.