It's all about domain names
If you have a problem with your electricity or gas supplier – or your phone or internet provider – and their management and staff decide you are wrong, you can take your concerns to an independent Ombudsman. You may not be successful, but it offers some sort of safeguard that you are being treated fairly.
Does auDA the Aussie domain name regulator have an independent ombudsman? Unfortunately not.
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In what is welcome news for domain investors, registrants and entrepreneurs, a 3 Member WIPO Panel has just unanimously decided in favour of the legitimate Registrant of this generic domain name. This was despite a Complainant (with deep pockets) instructing Minter Ellison to go after the domain.
Domainer has highlighted some quotes – as well as including the full decision.
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Just recently, Anthony from Drop sent me an email about the possible dangers of being a “reseller”.
He raised some good points – so naturally I followed up with a couple of parties – including auDA. You can read my conclusion!
Read moreRather than just write a new single subject story each time, Domainer is also going to reintroduce a regular news bulletin of snippets relating to domains in Australia. By regular, this means perhaps twice a week at this stage! We used to do this some time ago.
Todays topics include a revamped expired auction platform at Drop; auDA’s new charges for external review; auDA’s blog link on monetisation; and finally, a solid rumour that there is a new drop catcher in the wings!
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One of the biggest changes regarding Australian domain names is due to come into force next Monday – 12th April 2020. There are to be new licensing rules that will affect the registration and renewal of Aussie domains.
My experience over 20 years tells me that there are going to be many registrants that wouldn’t have a clue this is happening. Hence the title of this article. I wonder whether the auDA Board and Management have considered a short amnesty period for registrants to get their “house in order”? It would be a wonderful gesture.
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In breaking news, the PublicBenefit.uk campaign to get change at Nominet (the UK domain regulator) has succeeded. Domainer wrote about this possibility last week.
The CEO resigned prior to the EGM, but the other four directors got effectively fired Monday (UK time).
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An astute member of the Australian domain industry recently pointed out to me that auDA has made a lot of money out of non-complying .org.au domain names over the years.
Since 1st Jan 2018 there have been 23,968 .org.au domain names dropped. Of these about 600 (estimated) are still registered.
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Nominet is to the UK, as auDA is to Australia. They are the regulators of their local domain name spaces – i.e. UK and AU. Next week, there is an EGM (Extraordinary General Meeting) which has been called by some members fed up with the way Nominet has been run.
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The process of handling Australian Domain Name complaints is changing on the 12th April – less than one month away. auDA’s Compliance Manager Steph Viljoen did a short online presentation last week on an ICANN Forum. If you are a domain investor or registrant, it is definitely well worth watching.
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There is nothing more distressing to a responsible domain investor or legitimate registrant when they get an auDA complaint about one or more of their domain names via email.
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Many domain investors are reporting a surge in the number of complaints they are receiving via their Registrar/s – or directly from auDA.
An auDA complaint generally stems from someone who wants your domain but does not wish to pay a market value for it. Making a complaint is currently very easy – online process; costs nothing; and can be done anonymously.
As the subject headline suggests, prevention is definitely better than cure! As domain investors, we must try and follow the rules – even if we sometimes disagree.
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