Since my last posting, I have received confirmation that even under the
current policy, if I change my company name (a fairly common occurrence, I
should think), I actually lose my rights to my original domain name.

Sorry about the longish posting ...

The only way I can keep the name to stop the registrar from giving what's
indisputably mine to another entity is to register a separate business name
or trade mark, then make my new company (which is still the original
company, for Pete's sake) the owner of the new business name (which may not
be available - ASIC allows state business names and company names to be the
same), so that I can make the new business name the owner of the original
domain name, which it never owned in the first place.

Yeah - damn confusing.

And that too may be a problem, because I'm not sure (I stand to be corrected
in this) that policy allows domain names to be transferred to a new owner.

Either that, or I have to register a new domain name as a derivation of my
new company name, which also may be not available, because somebody with a
similar business name in another State may already have the domain name I
need.  And the only reason I would need it in the first place is because I
had to forfeit what I already rightfully owned.  Then I would have to begin
again to build brand and market awareness.

I am informed that the new policy will allow "close association with the
domain name" to be a criterion to retain it, should policy change make your
original domain name invalid.  Trade mark ownership is another criterion.
These may well make the policy "easier", but the onus (and cost) of proof is
on the original domain name owner, and there are no guarantees associated
therewith.

I suspect that the current policy (and the new one) has unintended
consequences where an entity changes its name, without changing the business
itself or its nature.  I believe it unjust that you can inadvertently
invalidate your own domain name by the simple, legal and common practice of
changing your company name.  This anomaly needs to be looked at a little
more carefully by auDA.
 
It's worthy of note that if I change my company name, I retain my original
ABN, my original bank account number, my everything else - why not my domain
name?


Ron Stark
Business Park Pty Ltd
mail: ronstark§businesspark.com.au
tel: +61 (0)3 9592 6895   fax: +61 (0)3 9591 0729
mob: +61 (0)41 812 9922

--
This article is not to be reproduced or quoted beyond this forum without
express permission of the author. 326 subscribers. 
Archived at http://listmaster.iinet.net.au/list/dns (user: dns, pass: dns)
Email "unsubscribe" to dns-request§auda.org.au to be removed.