If you own a valuable .au domain name, or you’re responsible for protecting a brand online, the name of your lawyer matters. A lot.
That’s why we want to take a moment to introduce Mills IP — a specialist intellectual property law firm based in Melbourne and Sydney, founded and led by Erhan Karabardak, one of Australia’s most recognised domain name and trade mark lawyers.
About Erhan
Erhan has been practising law for 30 years, and for most of that time he’s been working at the sharp end of domain name and trade mark matters. He’s the sort of lawyer who doesn’t just know the rules — he’s helped write a few of them.
He’s a former Chair and Deputy Chair of auDA, the body that regulates the .au namespace. He sits on the board of APTLD, the peak association for country-code domain registries across the Asia Pacific. He acts for some of the world’s largest domain name registrars, co-authors leading Australian IP publications, and has been a fixture in the World Trademark Review rankings for years.
The short version? When there’s a tricky .au domain question, Erhan is usually the person other lawyers ring.
A recent win worth talking about: hancock.com.au
In March this year, Erhan successfully defended his client’s ownership of hancock.com.au against an auDRP complaint brought by Hancock Prospecting Pty Limited — yes, the Gina Rinehart-chaired mining giant founded by her father Lang Hancock.
The case (Hancock Prospecting Pty Limited v Domain Invest Pty Ltd, WIPO Case No. DAU2026-0004) is worth a quick look, because the result was unusually strong.
Hancock Prospecting argued the domain was confusingly similar to its HANCOCK PROSPECTING trade mark and that the registrant had no business holding it. Erhan’s client, on the other hand, held hancock.com.au as part of a portfolio of roughly 800 surname-based domains used to run a premium personal email business — the sort of service that lets someone named Hancock have a firstname@hancock.com.au email address. With over 13,000 Australians sharing the Hancock surname, it’s not a niche idea.
The three-member WIPO panel agreed. Running a legitimate surname email business is a bona fide offering of services, and that gave the registrant clear rights and legitimate interests in the domain. The complaint was denied. The panel went further by majority, finding Hancock Prospecting had engaged in Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (bad faith). That’s a rare outcome, and a pointed one.
Takeaways
The takeaway is a useful one for anyone watching from the sidelines: owning a strong trade mark doesn’t automatically entitle you to every matching domain. If the person holding that domain has a genuine reason to be there, the auDRP will back them. Picking the right battles — and running them properly — is everything.
What Mills IP does
Mills IP offers the full run of trade mark, .au domain name work, alongside our broader IP practice. Two areas are worth highlighting.
auDRP disputes. The auDRP is the administrative process run through WIPO / Resolution Institute for resolving .au domain disputes. It’s faster and cheaper than going to court, but it has its own character — and one important quirk. Unlike the international UDRP, the auDRP only requires a complainant to prove the domain was registered or used in bad faith, not both. That lowers the bar and it shapes how both complaints and responses should be drafted. We act for brand owners chasing down infringing domains, and equally for registrants defending domains they’ve legitimately built a business around. Whichever side you’re on, the earliest decisions tend to shape the whole matter, so getting good advice before you file or respond is where the real value sits.
auDA audits. Every .au domain is licensed under the auDA Licensing Rules, and auDA audits registrants to check they still meet the eligibility requirements. Fail one of those audits and your domain can be suspended or cancelled. We help clients prepare for audits, respond to them when they land, review portfolios against the current rules, and where needed, restructure ownership so eligibility isn’t in any doubt. If you’ve had correspondence from auDA or your registrar asking you to justify your eligibility, please don’t wing it. A quick call with us can save a very important asset.
Beyond the disputes and audits, we also advise on domain acquisitions and transfers, portfolio management, direct .au registration issues, and the always-messy intersection between domain names and trade marks. Erhan’s contacts across the registry, registrars and the broader ccTLD world mean we can often move quickly on matters where other firms are still working out who to call.
Why any of this should matter to you
For most businesses, the domain name is one of the most valuable assets they own, along with their brand — even if it’s one they never really think about. It’s often an essential part of the brand, the email, the marketing, and the way customers find you. Losing it in an auDRP complaint or an auDA audit isn’t just inconvenient. For some businesses, it’s catastrophic.
Having someone in your corner who genuinely lives and breathes this area is not a luxury. Erhan has run many of the leading cases in Australian domain name law over the past two decades, and at Mills IP that experience sits alongside a broader trade mark and IP practice — giving our clients a single, specialist team for the full picture.
Get in touch
If you’re facing an auDRP complaint, preparing for an auDA audit, eyeing off a significant .au domain, or you just want a fresh set of eyes on your portfolio, we’d love to hear from you.
Head over to millsip.com.au to find out more about what we do.
Mills IP is a specialist intellectual property law firm with offices in Melbourne and Sydney. We give plain-English, commercially focused advice on trade marks, domain names and brand protection across Australia.
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