Mark Protection Committee

The WSFS Mark Protection Committee (MPC) is the only permanent committee of the World Science Fiction Society. It is not directly responsible to the WSFS Business Meeting, having been established as an independent committee authorized by the WSFS Constitution. (This means that while the MPC submits reports to the WSFS Business Meeting, and the Meeting elects members to the MPC, the Meeting can only make requests of the MPC; it can only bind the MPC by amending the WSFS Constitution.) The MPC manages the intellectual property and service marks of WSFS, including “Worldcon” and “Hugo Award,” which are among the service marks (similar to trademarks) WSFS owns. The MPC is also responsible for the ongoing WSFS web sites (including this one), but not the sites of the individual Worldcon committees. Currently, the MPC has delegated management of the WSFS web sites to the Hugo Awards Marketing Committee, whose membership the MPC appoints annually at the MPC’s Annual General Meeting at Worldcon.

The MPC consists of nine elected members and a variable number of appointees. The WSFS Business Meeting elects three people annually for three year terms. The current, future seated, and past two Worldcons and NASFiCs appoint members to the MPC. Members’ terms end at the conclusion of the WSFS Business Meeting at the Worldcon of the relevant year. Convention appointees serve at the pleasure of their appointing convention committee. The MPC elects officers from among its membership. MPC meetings are held at announced times during each Worldcon and are open to all attending members of that Worldcon. The MPC meets at least two times each “WSFS year”: the first meeting is held sometime after the final WSFS Business Meeting and usually before the end of that year’s Worldcon, for the purpose of electing officers for the coming year, and once again at the following Worldcon usually on the first day of the convention. The MPC does sometimes hold meetings at other times throughout the year to consider specific issues.

Worldcon Intellectual Property (WIP), a California non-profit public benefit corporation recognized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization by the US Internal Revenue Service, owns the WSFS service marks in selected locations and manages them on behalf of WSFS. WIP’s Board of Directors consists of all members of the MPC plus one non-voting member from California appointed by the MPC in the event that there are no California residents on the MPC.

Worldcon Intellectual Property Organizational Documents

Membership List (Last updated August 18, 2024)
Membership terms last through the final adjournment of the WSFS Business Meeting at the Worldcon held in the indicated year. Officers are elected annually at the organizational meeting held after the final adjournment of each year’s WSFS Business Meeting.

  • Judith Bemis (Elected until 2026)
  • Alan Bond (Appointed by Seattle 2025 until 2027)
  • Joni Dashoff (Elected until 2026)
  • Linda Deneroff (Secretary, Elected until 2027)
  • Donald E. Eastlake 3rd (Chair Elected until 2027)
  • David Ennis (Appointed by Buffalo NASFiC 2024 until 2026)
  • Bruce Farr (Treasurer/Non-voting member from California, appointed by MPC resolution through 2025)
  • Olav Rokne (Elected until 2027)
  • Linda Ross-Mansfield (Appointed by Pemmi-Con/2023 NASFiC until 2025)
  • Randall Shephard (Appointed by L.A.con V/2026 Worldcon until 2028)
  • Chen Shi (Appointed by Chengdu Worldcon 2023 until 2025)
  • Kevin Standlee (Elected until 2025)
  • Alissa Wales (Appointed by Glasgow 2024 until 2026)
  • Mike Willmoth (Elected until 2026)
  • Nicholas Whyte (Elected until 2025)
  • Ben Yalow (Elected until 2025)