High Value Domains

Posted by Internetrix on 14 August 2006 | 0 Comments

Domain names that have previously been banned from registration under the .com.au domain name space for being generic are now being offered at auction... but be quick!

The following is some information from Internet Names Worldwide, the administrator of the .com.au domain name space. This information is not as valuable today as it was during the "domain squatting" days of the early internet when a domain itself had a heap of value, but if you have a business that could better use a domain name that was previously disallowed because of its generic nature, this information may be of some value.

Since 1995 generic domain names have been prohibited in ".com.au", under the policy developed by Mr Robert Elz, the founder of the ".au" domain name space.

In 2000, auDA established a Name Policy Advisory Panel, which produced a set of recommendations to establish a revised domain names policy (http://www.auda.org.au/docs/auda-name-eligibility-final.html).

As part of the revised Domain Name Policy, to be introduced in early in 2002, the prohibition on generic names in ".com.au" will be removed and those names that have previously been disallowed, on the grounds that they were generic, are now being auctioned.

This means that names previously disallowed, such as shopping.com.au and restaurants.com.au, are now being made available.

Melbourne IT and auDA remind Domain name licence holders that there are many companies in Australia that provide services related to ".com.au" domain names and many of these companies are likely to offer their services to assist with obtaining generic domain names.

Some of these companies will, in early 2002, be licenced directly by auDA as auDA licenced registrars, and others will be resellers of these registrars.

Licence holders should note the following consumer alerts issued by auDA :

- "Be wary of ".com.au" domain name renewal notices"
(http://www.auda.org.au/about/news/2001012301.html)- dated 23 Jan 2001

- "Domain name licences are for 2 years only"
(http://www.auda.org.au/about/news/2001040201.html)- dated 02 Apr 2001