From: Kimachi Media 
Sent: Wednesday, 7 July 2004 3:41 PM
To: jo.lim@auda.org.au
Subject: Geographic Place Names

Place names should not be liberalised to protect them from exploitation.

 

It is the principle that is someone, other than McDonald’s Restaurants Australian, were to 
register and sit on “mcdonalds.com.au” or even worse exploit it in a commercial sense by 
steering traffic to that domain to Hungry Jacks… The owner of that trading name would:

 

  1.. Be furious 
  2.. Be disadvantaged in relation to a domain in which in hold an interest 
  3.. Actually win a dispute resolution and gain access to the domain at the end of the day 
 

Now applying this logic to “melbourne.com.au” or “sydney.com.au” etc… No 1 entity OWN those 
places. Those places have a shared interest. Whoever holds a place name in that way is 
advantaged over other web, accommodation and trade directory businesses.

 

If you do change it.. There are several place names we will register and exploit for commercial 
purposes, so ultimately it is up to you guys.. But I don’t think it’s a good idea. We can 
probably make some money out of it if you do, but it’s still not – on the whole – a good idea.

 

Thanks,

 

Julian Woolford

Kimachi Media

www.kimachi.com