com.au and net.au eligibility rule changes

On 12 April 2021 a new set of rules for the .au country code top level domain (ccTLD) comes into effect.

You can read the rules here: .au Domain Administration Rules: Licensing, and read the FAQs at the bottom of this article.

This new set of rules contains some changes for com.au and net.au domain name licences.

The new rules come into effect on 12 April 2021. All .au domain names registered or renewed on or after this date will be subject to the new licensing rules.

If your domain name licence expires after 12 April 2021 the rules in place at the time you registered or last renewed your domain name will apply until the end of the current licence period. If the name is renewed the new licensing rules will apply to it as the new licence is only created upon renewal.

Using a Trade Mark to meet the Australian Presence requirement

To be eligible to hold any name in the .au ccTLD you must first meet the Australian Presence requirement.

One of the ways you can meet the Australian Presence requirement is by holding an Australian Trade Mark (including a pending Trade Mark application) that appears on IP Australia’s Trade Mark database.

This method is often used by foreign business entities to meet the eligibility criteria for com.au or net.au domain names.

Previously for the com.au and net.au namespaces, if you were using an Australian Trade Mark as the basis for meeting the Australian presence requirement, you could choose a name that was ‘closely and substantially connected’ to your Trade Mark.

In the new licensing rules for the com.au namespace if you are using an Australian Trade Mark as the basis for meeting the Australian presence requirement, the name you choose must be an exact match to the words which are the subject matter of the Australian Trade Mark.

As described in the definitions of the Licensing Rules an exact match means:

“… that the domain name being applied for is identical to the words which are the subject of an Australian Trade Mark. The domain name must include all the words in the order in which they appear in the Australian Trade Mark, excluding:

• DNS identifiers such as com.au;
• punctuation marks such as an exclamation point or an apostrophe;
• articles such as ‘a’, ‘the’, ‘and ’or ‘of’; and
• ampersands.”
  If your name is not an exact match of the words in the trademark, you will be ineligible to hold that com.au or net.au domain.

Example

Under the new rules, if your trademark is “A Pretty Horse Carousels”

You could have:
• aprettyhorsecarousels.com.au
• prettyhorsecarousels.net.au

But not:
• phc.com.au
• Carousels.net.au
• Aprettyhorse.com.au
• horsecarousels.com.au

What you can do if this change affects you

This change affects com.au and net.au registrants who :

• use a trademark as the basis for meeting the Australian presence requirement;
  

AND

• have a name which is not an exact match of their trademark as defined by the new licensing rules.

To remain eligible for your domain name you should change the basis on which you meet the Australian presence requirement, however if this involves changing the legal entity the name is registered to, the name will need to be transferred to that new entity.

If you cannot meet the above eligibility requirements, then you will not be able to renew your domain name.

FAQs

Q: What happens if you don’t meet the new eligibility rules by your domain renewal date?
A: You will not be able to renew your domain, and it will enter the expiry process.

Q: What do you do once you’ve verified that your trademark is an exact match to your domain?
A: Nothing, your domain will renew as per normal.

Q: What do you do once I’ve registered an ABN that's related to my domain name?
A: You will need to initiate the Registrant Name Change process here (please note that there is a cost associated with this process.)

Q: What do you do once you’ve registered a new domain name that’s an exact match to your existing trademark?
A: This will be your new domain name. If there are any services associated with the old domain name, such as emails or a website, these will need to be transferred or redirected over to this new domain name. Our support team may be able to help you with this and can be contacted here.

Q: If I register an ABN or new trademark do I need to let anyone know once this is done?
A: No, all you need to do is register a new domain that meets the above eligibility requirements, or perform a Registrant Name Change (outlined above)

Q: If I do not meet the new eligibility rules, will someone warn me before my domain expires?
A: Yes, you will receive the standard domain expiry notifications for your domain.