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Posts Tagged ‘auDA’

.au Domain Administration Ltd (auDA) the regulator of the .au domain name space today released a review of governance undertaken by Westlake Consulting Ltd and Argo Pacific.

The report is a 107 page report which was prepared after consultation with a broad variety of stakeholders in the .au space including government, and Cooper Mills Lawyers. The report made 15 recommendations to the board including limits on the tenure of Directors and the publication of an Accountability and Transparency Framework.

The issue of Accountability and Transparency has featured prominently in the report, most likely as a result of the perception that auDA was secretive.

Of particular note in the report is a call for improvement in the relationship between government and auDA – earlier this week we reported that the Prime Minister had taken responsibility for Cyber Security from the Attorney General’s Department.

We hope to publish a more comprehensive analysis of the report shortly.

Tags: .au governance, auDA, Cooper Mills Lawyers, domain law, domain lawyers, domain name law, domain name lawyer
Posted in Domain law and domaining, General, IT Law, Uncategorized | Comments Off

auDA has released the new Transfers (Change of Registrant) Policy (2011-03) to replace the previous transfers policy, following recommendations of the Secondary Market Working Group review.

The new policy eliminates the ’6 month rule’ which prevented the sale of a newly registered domain name until the expiration of 6 months from the date of registration.

While the new policy removes the ’6 month rule’, the policy maintains the restriction that a Registrant may not register a domain name for the sole purpose of resale or transfer.

The new policy also, now formally recognises on online paperless domain transfer process offered by some Registrars such as Drop.com.au.

Tags: auDA, auDA Policy, domain lawyer, domain name law, domain name lawyer, trade mark lawyer
Posted in Domain law and domaining, General, IT Law, Trade Marks | Comments Off

We are often asked, is it possible for someone who isn’t Australian to register .au domains names. The simple answer is yes absolutely!

In Australia we have a requirement that a registrant of a domain name must be ‘eligible’ to hold that domain name.

There is a specific policy which regulates eligibility, this is called the Domain Name Eligibility and Allocation Policy Rules for Open 2LDs (‘the Policy’). As there are tough requirements on registering .org.au, most foreign registrants are likely to only be eligible to hold .net.au and com.au domain names if they are able to satisfy the eligibility requirements.

For foreign registrants these requirements for eligibility (for .com.au and .net.au) have a 2 step process, eligibility and entitlement to register.

Eligibility

To be eligible a foreign registrant must be:

1.  A foreign company licensed to trade in Australia – in order to do this a foreign company must obtain an ARBN which is registration to trade in Australia through the Australian Securities and Investments Commission; or
2.  An owner of an Australian Registered Trade Mark; or
3.  An application for an Australian Registered Trade Mark – this is important as an application for an Australian Registered Trade Mark is sufficient, it doesn’t actually have to be registered.

One a registrant is able to demonstrate eligibility, it has satisfied the first step.

 Entitlement to Register

The entitlement to register comes down to this, a domain name must be:

1.  An exact match, abbreviation or acronym of the registrant’s name or trademark; or
2. Otherwise closely and substantially connected to the registrant – some examples of this may be that the domain name represents a product or service the registrant sells.

Examples

An example of a foreign entity who can register a domain name may be a USA Company, Ted’s Computers LLC. Ted’s Computers LLC applies to register the trade mark, Ted’s Super Computers and Accessories.

Even though the application for the trade mark has not been registered Ted’s Computers LLC could register tedssupercomputersandaccessories.com.au (which is an exact match of the registrant’s trade mark) or it could register TSCA (which is an abbreviation or acronym of the registrant’s or trademark) or tedscomputers.com.au (which is an exact match of the registrant’s name).

Ted’s Computers could also register names that it has a close and substantial connection to for example computers.com.au, routers.com.au, monitors.com.au, printers.com.au, keyboards.com.au, mouse.com.au, computercamera.com.au – as these are all products that Ted’s Computers sells.

 How to become eligible

If you would like to become eligible then Cooper Mills Lawyers can assist you to:

1. Obtain an ARBN and become a foreign registered company entitled to trade in Australia;
2. Register an Australian Trade Mark – this is the easiest and quickest way to become eligible.
3. Understand all aspects of policy and provide strategic advice.

*This blog post is based on the Policy position as at 9 November 2011. This is not legal advice and you should obtain legal advice specific to your particular circumstances.

Tags: .au, auDA, domain law, domain lawyers, domain name law, domain name lawyer, domain name policy, domaining
Posted in Domain law and domaining, General, IT Law | Comments Off

.au Domain Administrator, auDA, today announced that it had accepted the recommendations of the Secondary Market Working Group, which included the highly controversial prohibition on the resale of newly registered domain names within 6 months of registration.

Among the recommendations of the Board that were accepted by auDA are:

1. mandate a registrant transfer process, along the lines of the registrar transfer process; and
2. publish information for registrants about the registrant transfer process, including the fact that they can choose to transfer their domain name to another registrar prior to processing a change of registrant.
3. The six month prohibition on registrant transfers should be removed.
4. auDA should provide more information to the public about drop catching services, including clearly identifying the registrars that provide these services.
5. AusRegistry should clarify its process for changing the Registry Usage Policy, including timing of changes and communications with registrars.
6. auDA should publish a policy which:

• clarifies that connection sharing between related registrars requires auDA’s prior written consent; and
• specifically prohibits connection sharing between unrelated registrars.

The most noteworthy change was the removal of the restriction on the resale of domain names. This policy was seen to be inconsistent and illogical by many industry players. The restrictions did not apply to domain names transferred but only on new registrations.

Some industry observers say that this decision effectively removes restrictions on the trading of domain names, and brings Australia into line with almost every other jurisdiction around the world.

Other changes included the provision of more information to consumer and registrants about domain name transfers and domain name drop services.

 

 

Tags: auDA, domain law, domain lawyer, domain name law, domain names, IT Law, IT Lawyer
Posted in Domain law and domaining, General | Comments Off

auDA, the Australian Domain Name Regulator has today released the draft recommendations of the 2010 Names Policy Panel for public comment.

The 2010 Names Policy Panel (“the Panel”) have considered the following policies (as part of auDA’s request for a review):

• Domain Name Eligibility and Allocation Policy Rules for the Open 2LDs (2008-05)
• Guidelines for Accredited Registrars on the Interpretation of Policy Rules for the Open 2LDs (2008-06)
• Reserved List Policy (2008-03)
• Prohibition on Misspellings Policy (2008-09)
• Domain Monetisation Policy (2008-10)

Public comment on the draft recommendations will be open until Friday 10 June 2011. A full copy of the draft recommendations are available from the auDA website.

The draft recommendations clearly show a reluctance by the auDA Panel to change the excessively regulated .au domain space. Among some of the draft recommendations, the Panel has recommended that:

• the Domain Monetisation Policy be abolished and incorporated in to the Domain Name Eligibility and Allocation Policy Rules;
• existing eligibility criteria for domain name registrants be retained;

The public are encouraged to provide feedback to the Panel – a copy of the draft recommendations can be found here.

Tags: auDA, domain law, domain lawyers, domain name lawyers, domainers, IT Law, IT Lawyers, technology lawyers
Posted in Domain law and domaining, General, IT Law | Comments Off

Domain Name regulator auDA and .au Registry operator Ausregistry today announced that Australia had 2 million .au domain names.

This is a historic achievement which places the .au domain space into the top ten domain name registrations internationally.

AusRegistry’s CEO Adrian Kinderis said:

“The .au domain has the highest penetration rate in the world for regulated namespaces with restricted eligibility when you take into account our population. The .au domain has become part of the fabric of doing business in Australia. We have seen continual strong growth in the namespace despite the global financial crisis and other market factors. .au is Australia’s domain namespace of choice and the only place to show that you are a trusted Australian,”.

Despite the massive growth in the number of domain name registrations, Australia remains one of the most regulated domain name spaces, putting it at odds with other jurisdictions such as Germany and the USA.

 

Tags: auDA, domain law, domain lawyer, domain name law, domain name lawyer, domain name regulation
Posted in Domain law and domaining, General | Comments Off

Leading Domain Name Lawyer and Cooper Mills Director, Erhan Karabardak, has launched his campaign for the 2010 auDA (.au Domain Administration Ltd) Board Election.

Erhan brings more than a decade of  skill and expertise in domain name law and domain name regulation. In officially launching his campaign, he said:

I decided to run for the auDA Board to bring fresh experience, insight and ideas to the .au domain space. The auDA demand class directors have largely ignored small business and domain name registrants’ concerns in the past. I want to bring these concerns to the table and take positive action. I encourage members to vote for a fresh change and bring diversity to the auDA Board.

His campaign website can be found at www.vote1ek.com.au. The auDA AGM is to be held on 18 October 2010. Members wishing to support Erhan can (a) vote at the AGM; or (b) download a proxy form here, complete it (just tick the box next to Erhan Karabardak), and fax it back to Maddocks on 03 9288 0666, the deadline for lodging proxy forms if 5pm AEST on 14 October 2010.

Tags: auDA, Erhan Karabardak
Posted in Domain law and domaining, General | Comments Off

.au name space to become more secure with the rollout of DNSSEC

Details of the rollout of Domain Names System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) in the .au domain name space have recently been released by the au Domain Administration (auDA).

Developed in conjunction with the .au registry operator, AusRegistry, the plan consists of a five stage process to introduce DNSSEC into the .au Top Level Domain (TLD) and second –level zones, including com.au, net.au, org.au and asn.au.

DNSSEC is a security extension that facilitates the digital signing of internet communications. Implementation of the plan hopes to see additional protection against a range of vulnerabilities.  AuDA CEO, Chris Disspain has said in an auDA announcement that “DNSSEC can provide an extra level of security to help ensure that Australian internet users will be directed to the website or service they expect to enter when they enter a domain name into their browser.”

Implementation is scheduled to commence next month and allows for:

-          Experimentation and testing of core systems

-          The gradual signing of second level .au domains and the .au TLD

-          A trail implementation for .au domain registrants, and

-          Full protection rollout to registrants

A review to be undertaken by auDA’s independent Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC), chaired by professor Bill Caelli from the Queensland University of Technology, will be conducted at the end of each stage.

The fifth, and vital stage of the implementation plan will be the active encouragement of Australian ISPs and domain registrants to adopt DNSSEC. auDA believes that the Australian Government will play a significant role in delivering to the ISPs, the message about the importance of DNSSEC for the security of Australia’s internet infrastructure.

We will keep you updated as the implementation process rolls out.

Tags: auDA, DNSSEC, domain law, domain lawyer, domain name, domain name lawyer, domainers, domains, IT Law, technology law, technology lawyer
Posted in Domain law and domaining, General, ISP and Telco Law, IT Law | Comments Off

Australian domain name regulator, auDA has called for nominations from interested and qualified persons to take part in the 2010 Names Panel.

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