Bids top 13m for qant.as domain

[Rhythm]

Bids top $1.3m for qant.as domain ?

Bids top 1.3m for qant.as domain

AN online entrepreneur who owns the domain name Qant.as claims a buyer is willing to pay $1.3 million to wrest control of it but it's not the flying kangaroo.

Dominic Holland held a private auction this week and says he invited top Qantas executives, including CEO Alan Joyce, to participate but to no avail.

Mr Holland said that repeated attempts to contact Qantas had fallen on deaf ears and that the airline had made a mistake in ignoring him.

"The domain name Qant.as could be snapped up by a competitor so damage to Qantas's business could be in the millions of dollars," Mr Holland claimed.

"By not participating in the bid process this shows gross oversight on behalf of Qantas's entire marketing department."

Mr Holland originally purchased the domain name for around $20.

He said that bidding started at $1m and finished at $1.35m.


"Deal finalisations have commenced and this means that every URL such as http://Qant.as/flights or http://Qant.as/rewards will redirect to a competitor's website."

Mr Holland declined to reveal the identity of the highest bidder but it wasn't Qantas competitor Virgin Blue.

According to Virgin Blue spokeswoman Amanda Bolger, the company did not participate in the bid process.

A Qantas spokeswoman said the company was "working to ensure there's no confusion over our domain names".

Qantas declined to comment on possible legal action but Mr Holland believes Qantas has no grounds for legal recourse.

"A company or entity may seek legally the rights to a domain name in a similar fashion as that of trademark law. This means that a domain name must be proven to be, include or contain a trademark for which may attract consumers or viewers through utilising a known trademark.

"However, this does not extend to the extension of a domain name, and only applies to the preceding letters.

"In this case Qantas would have to prove that consumers would be drawn to that domain because of the use of 'Qant'. However, as they have at no point advertised, portrayed or conducted themselves with 'Qant' they hold no legal rights to the domain. The extension .as or any extension is not taken into consideration as legally it is considered an indicator of domain type or location," he said.

Mr Holland said he was still open to more offers. In the meantime he has redirected Qant.as to display Virgin Blue's homepage.

 

[Rhythm]

Would be interesting to see the ruling on this if it goes to arbitration.

 

[Oz.]

Its $1.3millionish. I posted about it somewhere else here but think it deserves its own thread.

I say "fake". The guy is asking for trouble.

 

[FirstPageResults]

sounds like a publicity stunt.. seriously who would fork out that kind of money for a hack domain of a brand

 

[Bacon Farmer]

I reckon he's got a few flying kangaroos loose in the top paddock.

 

[Jonathan]

Agreed, total BS.

 

[Honan]

He also owns nopoint.com.au
I am wondering if he is the comedian at www.DominicHolland.com
It appears there is "no point" to his publicity release apart from being funny

 

[Oz.]

Create your Qant.as short URL

Haha

Want to buy the Qant.as URL shortener? CLICK HERE

Hahahaha

 

[Jonathan]

I think it's also very telling that a mainstream newspaper was able to be fooled like this. We all know this is a total non-story, but they bought it hook, line, and sinker.

Just goes to show how clueless the general public (journalists included!) is about this kind of stuff.

 

[montecristo]

It's all a bit wank, but I reckon the more stories about domains hitting the media in Australia is a good thing. All news is good news.

 

[marketingweb]

It sounds like something David Thorne would do - although it doesn't appear to be him. Completely off topic but i thought worth sharing anyway!

You probably don't know the name, but he's the guy who tried to use a drawing of a spider as payment for a bill - then later had an arguement with a graphic design client (probably not real)

Refer here for the spider one:
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=665847

Here for his Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Thorne_(writer)

And here for the Graphic Design one on his own website:
http://www.27bslash6.com/p2p.html

 

[Jonathan]

Lol yeah I've seen that spider thing before - that guy is all kinds of awesome!

I reckon this qant.as BS is beneath a comic genius like him

 

[Rhythm]

Entrepreneur Dominic Holland has been slammed by Qantas and Westpac after attempting to sell the two companies domain names similar to their own official URLs.

Holland registered domains such as Qant.as and most recently, Westp.ac, in order to show the businesses how competitors could control differing URLs which appear similar to the companies' names.

He has said these URLs have attracted bids of over $1 million in private auctions, evidence of their commercial power. But Westpac has said it has no desire to do business with him.

"Westpac is not interested in engaging with Mr Holland," a spokesperson told The Australian. "We believe his approach is opportunistic and unethical."

Mr Holland declined to comment on Westpac's response. It is understood Qantas is currently pursuing investigating possible legal action regarding the URL.

http://www.smartcompany.com.au/inte...holland-slammed-by-business-for-url-sale.html

 

[Jonathan]

Wow, when a bank calls you 'opportunistic and unethical' you know it's time to do some soul searching.

 

[Lorenzo]

Wow, when a bank calls you 'opportunistic and unethical' you know it's time to do some soul searching.

and how would I call a bank?

 

[Jonathan]

I think you missed the sarcasm

 

[Lorenzo]

I think you missed the sarcasm

sorry, I got it now...

I am still under a massive shock for having lost my baby

 

[Jonathan]

I don't think not getting that domain should stop you, ID. Honestly, if you have a good idea for a business, I say go for it. A really strong generic name is definitely a big help, but it's hardly a guarantee that you'll succeed either.

And anyway, you were going to do a translation business right? I don't think Italian.com.au is the best domain for that anyway.

 

[Lorenzo]

And anyway, you were going to do a translation business right?

wrong

Big big... bigger idea.

 

[Jonathan]

Well either way, I wouldn't let not getting a domain name stop you!