Draft recommendations from the 2015 Names Policy Panel

[eBranding.com.au]

Following public consultation for the Issues Paper, draft recommendations were released by the Names Policy Panel today:
http://www.domainer.com.au/draft-recommendations-from-the-2015-names-policy-panel/

Submissions on the draft recommendations are open until 30 September 2015, more details are available on the auDA website here.

The issues being considered will directly affect many of us, so make sure you have your say!

 

[Data Glasses]

5 years reg is better and drop the Abn requirement ......good

 

[elbranch]

5 years reg is better and drop the Abn requirement ......good

I imagine these are very minor issues bordering on irrelevant for a lot of people on the forum compared to this:
"The main recommendation is that, in principle, Australians should be able to register domain names directly under .au (eg. myname.au)."

 

[eBranding.com.au]

5 years reg is better and drop the Abn requirement ......good

Completely agree

 

[eBranding.com.au]

I imagine these are very minor issues bordering on irrelevant for a lot of people on the forum compared to this:
"The main recommendation is that, in principle, Australians should be able to register domain names directly under .au (eg. myname.au)."

Extending the registration period is actually a big one for me. It's a brand protection/insurance mechanism that I've used extensively in .com (e.g. 10 year regs for my business brands).

I take your point about the magnitude of direct registrations though, one of the areas that concerns me is no sunrise period for trademark holders.

 

[robert]

Page 9 of the .au Policy Review
(this is an excerpt taken from the document)

4. Domain monetisation

Currently the registration of domain names for the purpose of domain monetisation is allowed within com.au and net.au but not in the other 2LDs – ie. it is assumed that because domain monetisation is a commercial practice, only names in the two commercial 2LDs should be allowed to be registered solely for monetisation purposes.

This raises a major issue for direct registrations. Should the domain monetisation rules be carried over on the assumption that most registrations would be for commercial use? Would allowing large numbers of names to be “tied up” by domainers undermine the purpose of making them available in the first place? Is it reasonable or even feasible to enforce a complete ban on an activity which has for many years been part of the DNS landscape, and of auDA policy?

The Panel has not yet reached a consensus view on this issue and would welcome comments from the public to help guide its recommendation in this area.

 

[robert]

And then a few lines down...

Recognition of existing registrants. The Panel notes that the majority of ccTLDs which have moved from a 2LD hierarchy to direct registrations have provided some form of recognition of existing registrants, usually in the form of a first right of refusal on the matching name. Panel members acknowledge that this approach would tend to conflict with the fundamental ‘no hierarchy of rights’ principle underpinning the .au domain space, however it is felt that not affording any prior rights to existing registrants would be considered to be unreasonable and unfair. The Panel notes that a large number of respondents to the Issues Paper argued or assumed that com.au registrants should have the right to the matching .au name; in line with the ‘no hierarchy of rights’ principle, the Panel does not agree that com.au should be given preference, and believes that all 2LDs should be regarded as equal.

This means that if you own SYDNEY.com.au - you DO NOT have the first rights to claim SYDNEY.au

 

[robert]

5 years reg is better and drop the Abn requirement ......good

Don't just assume the ABN requirement is going to be dropped.
Page 12 excerpt

The Panel’s view is that a registered business name should continue to be accepted as an eligibility criterion for com.au and net.au domain names. Accordingly, auDA should implement whatever changes are necessary to reflect ASIC’s business names registration system, with the proviso that there be no disadvantage to registrants. The Panel notes that implementation may also require AusRegistry to make changes to the registry database fields.

 

[Sim]

There is also a suggestion of making .au a "premium" domain space to differentiate it from existing 2LDs ... or in other words: to make more money for the registry

 

[eBranding.com.au]

Don't just assume the ABN requirement is going to be dropped.
Page 12 excerpt

The Panel’s view is that a registered business name should continue to be accepted as an eligibility criterion for com.au and net.au domain names. Accordingly, auDA should implement whatever changes are necessary to reflect ASIC’s business names registration system, with the proviso that there be no disadvantage to registrants. The Panel notes that implementation may also require AusRegistry to make changes to the registry database fields.

One of the proposals is that .au domain eligibility includes individuals (Australian citizens), in addition to the existing eligibility options (ABN, business name etc). My understanding is that this would apply to direct .au registrations e.g. domainname.au

 

[asantha]

This is all about money - well I have to start saving now - to protect my .com.au ,,, Pretty sure netfleet , domain shield and drop will start a new page to catch these new domains (as soon as its available), and I will have to bid.

 

[eBranding.com.au]

This means that if you own SYDNEY.com.au - you DO NOT have the first rights to claim SYDNEY.au

Yeah it's a bit of a worry. Coupled with no sunrise for trademark holders, this could create serious problems for many businesses seeking to protect their brands.

 

[snoopy]

I wonder if we are going to see another substantial decline in the wholesale .com.au market with this news. If it is now going to drag on for a couple of years I think the ramifications won't be good for the market. Having said that it is very likely that .au won't have much of an impact but the uncertainty will sap domainer confidence in my view.

There is also a suggestion of making .au a "premium" domain space to differentiate it from existing 2LDs ... or in other words: to make more money for the registry

Sounds like a nice way of saying "high reg fees". This isn't "premium" just like .nz and .uk isn't.

 

[robert]

I have submitted my opinion on the .au Policy Draft using their SurveyMonkey form. It's obviously really worth doing. For those interested, a good portion of my opinion is up on the top right of my website - Domain Broker Australia.
Interesting times!

 

[Bacon Farmer]

I'm pretty sure a smart lawyer will start talking goodwill, passing off, unregistered trademarks etc, if this bullshit about no hierachy of rights gets up when it hasn't in any other country.

 

[Rhythm]

This is going to be absolute chaos.

 

[Rhythm]

Should clarify That last post was referring to the TM paragraph.

 

[elbranch]

This means that if you own SYDNEY.com.au - you DO NOT have the first rights to claim SYDNEY.au

And the owner of SYDNEY.net.au can bid for SYDNEY.au on behalf of a cashed-up third party.

In much the same way that every person who hand registered a generic term .net.au 10 or 15 years after someone first bought the .com.au, with no intention of ever competing with the .com.au, can compete for the .au on equal terms, or can bid on behalf of a cashed-up third party.

The .com.au owner is the owner of the premium Australian domain name while the owner of the .net.au is the owner of a secondary domain name which even auda describes as being more for technical, internet and networking purposes.

The auda proposal will open up the possibility of the .com.au owner being deprived of their position as the owner of the premium Australian domain name if they are not for whatever reason able to secure the .au.

I absolutely guarantee this will benefit auda in some way.

 

[elbranch]

This is all about money - well I have to start saving now - to protect my .com.au ,,, Pretty sure netfleet , domain shield and drop will start a new page to catch these new domains (as soon as its available), and I will have to bid.

It's all about the money but the money trail will lead directly to auda that can be guaranteed.

 

[elbranch]

So auda has effectively announced that .net.au owners will be equally eligible for the .au but has auda announced that no new .net.au domain name registrations will be eligible for the .au or are they happy for a mini rush on any available .net.au's which might be attractive to someone as a route for owning the .au?

The date of registration is no longer publicly available so the .com.au owner wouldn't know and be able to lodge a complaint anyway and of course it will benefit auda for there to be as much competition as possible for the .au names so you guessed it no cut off of .net.au registrations eligible for the .au.