Although I have worked with large law firms and organisations since 1994, I have been a sole trader since that time. Like many sole traders, I do my best to maximise my income by using my hours productively (eg working, rather than chasing unpaid invoices and trying to complete income tax forms unaided) and by minimising my outgoings. This being so, I decided at an early stage to use an off-the-peg email address bore the name of my original internet service provider. Though I have passed through the hands of several different ISPs since then, my email address has remained constant. There can't be so many of us now with email addresses ending in "@btinternet.com", so it's even becoming quite distinctive.
I recently spotted an invitation to sign up for a free webinar on an intellectual property topic of some interest to me. However, there was a little message at the bottom of the promotional material to the effect that the organisers only accepted registrations undertaken with professional email addresses (i.e. no registrations from people using Yahoo, Gmail and similar private accounts).
I would have guessed that there are quite a few sole and small practitioners in the field of intellectual property who, like me, are using web-based email services and may would be wondering whether this is an unreasonable ground of discrimination. Comments, anyone?
