What name can I register?
You can attempt to register any name as long as it does not violate auDA’s regulations on deliberate misspellings of names.
3. POLICY PRINCIPLES
3.1 auDA’s objective in enforcing a prohibition on misspellings is to preserve the integrity of the .au domain space by discouraging “typosquatting”, whereby a person deliberately registers a misspelling of a popular domain name in order to divert trade or traffic.
3.2 auDA recognises that a domain name that appears to be a prohibited misspelling may not in fact be a prohibited misspelling given the particular circumstances of the case (eg. where two registrants have very similar entity, personal or brand names). The complaints-handling process set out in section 4 of this policy gives the registrant an opportunity to respond to the complaint and provide reasons why the domain name is not a prohibited misspelling. auDA will consider each case on its own merits.
3.3 auDA is also aware that some prohibited misspellings are repeatedly re-registered for the purpose of domain monetisation. In order to deal effectively with this category of prohibited misspellings, auDA will use the audit process set out in section 6 of this policy.
3.4 This policy may not be used to settle disputes between a registrant and a third party about competing rights to a domain name. Such disputes should be handled under the .au Dispute Resolution Policy (auDRP) or under Australian law.
4. SCOPE OF PROHIBITION
4.1 The prohibition on misspellings applies where:
a) the domain name is a misspelling of an entity, personal or brand name that does not belong to the registrant; and
b) the registrant has deliberately registered the misspelling in order to cpr144449003101 trade on the reputation of the other entity, person or brand.
4.2 For the purposes of the prohibition, a domain name will be regarded as a misspelling if it falls into one of the following categories:
a) the singular version of a plural name, or the plural version of a singular name (eg. woolworth.com.au, safeways.com.au);
b) a name with missing letters (eg. yhoo.com.au);
c) a name with additional letters (eg. quantas.com.au);
d) a name with transposed letters (eg. goolge.com.au, wetspac.com.au);
e) a name with letters replaced by numbers, or numbers replaced by letters (eg. 9msn.com.au);
f) a hyphenated version of a name (eg. e-bay.com.au, micro-soft.com.au);
g) a name prefixed by “www” (eg. wwwseek.com.au); or
h) any other name that auDA determines is a deliberate misspelling, having regard to the surrounding circumstances.
