About me
Marc H. Trachtenberg is a Shareholder in Greenberg Traurig’s Chicago Office. He focuses his practice in domain name, Internet, e-commerce, social media, marketing, advertising, promotions, trademark, copyright and privacy matters. Marc is counsel to the Brand Registry Group and also represents NamesCon sponsor Whoisology as well as a variety of other domain registrars, and registries. Greenberg Traurig also represents numerous registries, registrars, and other domain name industry service providers in a variety of capacities.
Marc has actively participated in the development of Internet policy and governance for more than 10 years, focusing on the protection of intellectual property online, and in particular with respect to new gTLDs. He helped obtain additional intellectual property protections for new gTLDs through the Intellectual Property Constituency of ICANN and also actively participated in the drafting and negotiation of Specification 13 of the new gTLD Registry Agreement, which recognizes ".brands" as a category of new gTLD and provides significant benefits to ".brands." He has also advised numerous clients with regard to gTLD issues and assisted with numerous applications for new gTLDs, as well as filing and responding to objections to new gTLD applications.
At a previous firm, Marc managed a unique law firm-run domain name registrar, which registered domain names on a worldwide basis and managed large domain name portfolios for some of the most well-known brands in the world. As a result of his domain name and Internet experience, Marc was asked to advise the Chinese government with regard to Internet products, phishing and fraudulent domain registrar activity.
Marc has also helped recover thousands of domain names in his career, both in the United States and internationally, including a portfolio of almost 800 cybersquatted domain names for a professional athlete that were identical to the names of various athletes and celebrities. He also regularly assists clients with the takedown and removal of infringing or otherwise offensive content in social media and online generally.
As an entrepreneur, Marc is involved in several start-up ventures, technology and otherwise, including a software application that he developed that monitors social media for unauthorized use of brands. Prior to practicing law, Marc was a software consultant and project manager who advised clients regarding enterprise-class software and web-based technology and managed implementation and customization of these applications and technologies. He also worked as a software consultant and sales engineer for a firm that designed regulatory compliance software and application development for major pharmaceutical companies.
