Australia:
Au domain registrations available from 24 March 2022
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From 24 March 2022, it will be possible to register
a ‘.au’ domain.
The ‘.au’ domain registration process will be conducted
through all domain registrars and has the same eligibility
requirements as ‘com.au and ‘net.au’ domain
registrations. One of those requirements is that the registrant
have an Australian presence. A foreign entity can establish an
Australian presence by having on the Australian Trade Marks Office,
a trade mark corresponding to the domain name.
Applicants who already hold a ‘com.au or ‘net.au’
domain registration will, during the 6 month priority application
period from 24 March 2022 to 20 September 2022, be given an
opportunity to have priority status to apply for the corresponding
‘.au’ registration.
During this period, all domain names in the Australian Registry
will be reserved and owners of pre-existing domains will have the
opportunity to apply to place a priority hold on the ‘.au’
equivalent domain name. If no such hold is placed on the domain
during the priority application period, the domain name will be
made available to the public.
In the event that more than one owner of a pre-existing domain
applies for a priority hold on the corresponding ‘.au’
registration, the following priority system will be applied:
- applicants who created a domain before 4 February 2018
(Category 1) will have priority over applicants who created a
domain after 4 February 2018 (Category 2); - if there is more than one applicant from Category 1, the domain
name will be allocated based on an agreement between the
applicants. If the applicants cannot reach an agreement, the
‘.au’ domain name will remain subject to priority hold
until there is only one application; - if there is no applicant from Category 1, but more than one
applicant from Category 2, the domain name will be allocated to the
applicant with the earliest pre-existing domain creation date; - applicants who are successful against multiple applicants, in
applying for a domain name under this process, may only register
that domain name on a yearly basis. Presumably this is to give the
unsuccessful applicants a chance to secure the domain at a later
date.
Of course, ‘com.au’ and ‘net.au’ registrations
remain in place after the 24 March 2022, so the rights of owners of
those domains remain unaffected.
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.
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