Domain complaint

DOMAIN name administrator auDA has lodged a complaint with the ACCC about the conduct of a domain name registering company, and warned businesses to beware of misleading information relating to the registration of Internet domain names.

auDA said a company called Internet Registry Pty Ltd (Internet Registry) is sending out mail headed “important notice” to domain name registrants.

The letter contains numerous inaccuracies, chief of which is the following statement: “Secure your domain with Internet Registry in the new system before July 31. Any existing registration period for your domain will be added to your two-year registration.”

auDA said this could be taken to mean that registrants could renew their existing .au domain name for a period longer than two years. This is not possible. Domain names in .au can only be licensed for two-year periods and cannot be renewed until 90 days before they are due to expire. auDA said registrants should be wary of paying for renewal at any earlier time.