Australia:
Changes to .au domain name registration affecting businesses & charities
To print this article, all you need is to be registered or login on Mondaq.com.
The administrator for Australia’s top level domains (auDA)
recently introduced significant changes as to how businesses and
charities can obtain and maintain .au domain names. The .au
Domain Administration Rules: Licensing
(Rules) published by auDA govern the licensing of
Australian domain names.
.au
The first eligibility requirement under the Rules to obtain and
maintain a .au domain is that the applicant have an Australian
presence.1 This is defined to include Australian
citizens and permanent residents, companies, businesses,
associations and other organisations registered in Australia. From
12 April 2021, holders of Australian trade marks not having any
other Australian presence can rely on their trade mark only if the
domain exactly matches the trade mark (see further below).
Secondly, further eligibility and allocation criteria apply to
particular namespace extensions.
.com.au and .net.au
To obtain (and maintain on renewal) a .com.au or .net.au domain
name the applicant must:
- be a commercial entity; and
- the domain name must:
-
- match or be an acronym of the person’s company, business,
statutory or personal name, related body corporate, partnership or
trust; or - match or be a synonym of the name of goods or services
provided.2
- match or be an acronym of the person’s company, business,
Point 2 does not apply if the applicant relies on its Australian
trademark to establish its Australian presence. In this case, the
domain name must exactly match the words of a pending or registered
Australian trade mark.3
Foreign trade mark holders relying on their trademark to satisfy
the Australian presence criteria should review their trademark
portfolios to ensure they hold a trademark that is an exact match
to their Australian domain, and consider applying for new
trademarks if required.
- applicant must be a not for profit entity; and
- domain name must:
-
- match or be a synonym to the service, program, event, activity,
premises or occupation of the applicant; or - match or be an acronym of the person’s legal name, business
or statutory name; or - match the name of the unincorporated association, trust or
Australian trade mark.4
- match or be a synonym to the service, program, event, activity,
For purpose or not for profit organisations should review the
domains they use to consider whether or not they need to apply for
new trademarks.
Restrictions on domain name use and
acquisition
The Rules prohibit certain uses of domain names. For example,
monetisation is prohibited for the org.au, asn.au, id.au, edu.au
and any State or Territory namespace.5 Obtaining
licences for these namespaces for the sole use of transferring the
licence to another person is prohibited.6 Acquiring a
licence for a domain name that is deceptively similar to an
Australian namespace is also prohibited – for example,
.comm.au.7
Applicants should carefully consider any domain name acquisition
to ensure the above eligibility criteria are met, and avoid
engaging in deceptive conduct.
Where to next?
Any party using domain names as an important part of their
business, purchasing a business, becoming a franchisee, distributor
or licensee, or otherwise acquiring a domain name as part of some
acquisition or expansion, should review and carefully audit the
domains intended to be used in the future to make sure they are
able to be maintained, acquired and/or used.
Finally, and most importantly, a domain name licence, business
name or company name grants no proprietary interest in the domain
or trading name. Only a trade mark grants exclusive rights to a
name in relation to the registered goods and services.
Footnotes
1.au Domain Administration Rules –
Licensing (16 Feb 2021) r 2.4.1.
2 Ibid r 2.4.4.
3 Ibid r 2.4.5.
4 Ibid r 2.4.6.
5 Ibid r 2.4.13.
6 Ibid r 2.4.14.
7 Ibid rr 2.5.2 – 2.5.4.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.
POPULAR ARTICLES ON: Intellectual Property from Australia
