A question a lot of domain investors and entrepreneurs have been asking lately is this;
According to the new .au Licensing Rules, is parking a generic domain name a valid use of the domain under the current policy and by parking it, does it give and continue to give you eligibility while it’s parked?
So, I asked auDA this question late last year, and this was the response from one of their representatives;
I’m assuming you are talking about the allocation rules for com.au domains.
Clause 2.4.4 (2) (f) of the .au Domain Administration Rules: Licensing (https://www.auda.org.au/policy/au-domain-administration-rules-licensing), states:
The domain name applied for must be (f) a match or synonym of the name of:
(i) a service that the Person provides;
(ii) goods that the Person sells (whether retail or wholesale);
(iii) an event that the Person registers or sponsors;
(iv) an activity that the Person facilitates, teaches or trains;
(v) premises which the Person operates
and which that Person is providing at the time of the application.
Domain names don’t have to be used with web pages. They can be used for email for example.
It is common for registrars to provide a standard “under construction” parked page of some sort when a domain name is first registered. There is no specific requirement to build a web page, but the domain name must still match the name of a service, goods, event, activity or premises which the registrant is providing at the time of the registration.
Where a web page is dynamically generated that is funded by advertising, it needs to be clear what service the registrant is providing to whom as well as the name of that service. This can be done by putting content on the webpage that describes the service the registrant is providing, explains who the service is for (could be the general public), and also make clear what the name of that service is. The domain name then must be a match or synonym of that name of that service.
Using https://dbr.com.au/ as an example. it is clear to me that the service being provided is a domain brokerage service for Australian businesses, and the name of that service is DBR.
If the nature of the service and the name of the service is unclear on the webpage or there is no webpage at all, then registering a matching business name or trademark will ensure that there are no disputes about whether the domain name matches the name of a service that the Registrant provides.
Regards,
.au Domain Administration Limited (auDA)
