[Sydney, AUSTRALIA] Plans to review the Australian domain name policy received a boost at the auDA Name Policy Advisory Panel’s first meeting. The panel was recently established by the auDA Board, with the intention of reviewing domain name eligibility and name allocation policies – in other words, who (or what) can have a domain name, and what name they can have.
Hot topics at the meeting were the degree of consistency in the domain name allocation system; the need to minimize conflicts between trademarks and domain names; protection of well-known Australian names; and the relationship of a name to the entity applying for it.
The Panel will produce an initial discussion paper in August and hopes to make recommendations to the auDA Board early in 2001.
Panel Chair, Derek Whitehead, from Swinburne University of Technology said “We are aiming to set out the basic characteristics of a good domain names policy as a starting point.” The board consists of 30 members representing consumers, general domain name users, existing registrars, business and industry, intellectual property interests and government.
auDA said that anyone with an interest in the domain name policy could contribute by making a submission by e-mail to Jo Lim.