From: Karl Schaffarczyk [karl@karl.net.au]
Sent: Friday, 30 July 2004 1:20 PM
To: Jo Lim
Subject: Geographics submission


Dear Ms Lim,

Restrictions on geographic names in .com.au and .net.au should and 
can be safely removed

As noted in several responses to the auDA call for comment, the 
rationale for the restriction ceased when auDA created the new 
community geographic 2LDs.

There is considerable evidence that a domain name per se does not 
provide the registrant with a fundamental commercial or other 
advantage. Amazon.com versus Books.com demonstrates that marketing 
and performance are more important than the name in isolation.

The current restriction disadvantages businesses whose names 'match' 
place names. That's a particular problem for small businesses where 
the owner's surname  (eg Sutherland, Holbrook, Appleby) is often part 
of the business name, is used to promote that business but because of 
cost is not trademarked. The restriction prevents legitimate uses and 
is inconsistent with auDA's recognition that the same word can be 
used by different registrants in different 2LDs (eg in .com.au, 
.net.au, org.au and .gov.au)

Enforcement of the restrictions in the past has been inconsistent (eg 
Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane are online in the .com.au 
space).

Concerns about potential misuse of names can be addressed by existing 
law and by the registrant making a special warranty that the 
particular site will not pretend to be representative of the 
pertinent community or otherwise duplicate the corresponding site in 
the community geographic 2LD.
I would strongly advocate that such a special warranty be collected 
from the registrant at time of the application being accepted.


Sincerely
Karl Schaffarczyk


-- 

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