After a development phase of around 2 years auDA has launched its new website with a positive development.
Following a brand refresh and revised website to bring auDA into modern times, auDA has now launched its new website. The new website is cleaner and more modern with improved navigation.
The most obvious and prominent change is the ability to search the availability of a domain and then register it with one of the auDA Accredited Registrars. Whois Lookup and Password Recovery is now easily located just under the domain search feature.
Equally the complaints button also features on the front page but in a positive development auDA has included some key statements on the complaints page:
auDA does not handle Trade Mark complaints, please refer to the .au Dispute Resolution Policy page for information about the domain name arbitration process.
If a complaint is upheld it will not result in the name being transferred to the complainant.
The warning about trade mark complaints is a good one because it warns potential complainants not to use this process as a back door to an auDRP, the effectiveness of this will only be determined over time. It is also significant that the statement around domains not being transferred is made here, so that potential complainants are warned that this is not a way to secure a transfer of domain name. These statements may cause a potential complainant to think again before filing a complaint.
Our view has always been that the identity of a complainant should always be disclosed by auDA for transparency, so that domain name owners can ‘face their accuser’. This has become an even bigger issue with anecdotal evidence of increases in domain name thefts by unscrupulous parties.
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