Registrars ask auDA to reverse Australian .com.au eligibility change
in plain words
Companies that sell website names in Australia want a change reversed. The change would stop many people and businesses from registering .com.au and .net.au names unless the name matches their business, trademark, or personal name. The companies say this could cancel many names already in use.
Full summary
Ten registrar A company that registers domain names for customers with the registry. Full definition of registrar have written to the auDA .au Domain Administration The not-for-profit body that manages Australia's .au domain and sets its rules. Full definition of auDA board, the body that runs the .au domain space, asking it to undo a decision that would sharply restrict who can obtain .com.au and .net.au names. The board had already approved a recommendation from a policy panel The one or three independent experts who decide a domain dispute. Full definition of panel to drop The moment a deleted domain becomes available to register again. Full definition of drop the existing requirement that a registrant The person or organization that holds a domain name registration. Full definition of registrant have a close link to Australia for third-level .au names.
Under the revised rules, a business or person could register these names only if the name matches a registered business name, a trademark, or a personal name. One panel member voted against the change.
The registrars estimate that the new rules could eliminate between 50% and 80% of the 3.5 million existing registered domains. They argue the rules fail to match everyday business practice. In their view, companies use domains to run campaigns, send customers to specific products, host platforms separate from their main websites, offer short email addresses, and use invented names they are widely known by. They also register misspellings and synonyms of their brands. They say that none of these practices requires a precise match to a legal name.
The registrars also say many businesses have spent years on marketing and search optimization for their existing domains, which would be severely affected. Drawing on their experience, they believe that when country-code registry The central database and system of a top-level domain, or loosely the organization that runs it. Full definition of registry make registration Obtaining the right to use a domain name for a set period. Full definition of registration harder, registrants tend to switch to generic extensions. Tucows A Canadian company with a large wholesale registrar business and a registry services unit. Full definition of Tucows is one signatory to the letter, and the other signatories have not been identified.