Do you understand the risks of not registering your .AU domain?

Anything that you see on the internet, irrespective of whether it is an online store, employee portal or customer forum has a unique address. This address falls under a domain name. Ownership of key domains can ensure customers are transacting with an authentic trader and helps prevent unauthorised third parties from capitalising on a business’ valuable reputation. Domain name registrations are an essential tool when it comes to carving out an exclusive identity online.

Anyone with a domain name, needs to act, to avoid identity theft. For example, www.orbitel.com.au has become www.orbitel.au. If we had not registered this new domain name by 20 September 2022, any member of the public could have registered the www.orbitel.au domain name. This can create at least confusion, and probably harm to this business’s reputation.

Any person with an existing .au domain name, licensed prior to 24 March 2022, will have priority to apply to register the .au direct exact match of their name until 23:59 UTC 20 September 2022 (9:59AM AEST 21 Sept), if they would like to licence it.

If there are no applications for a .au direct name from an eligible registrant during the six-month Priority Allocation Period, that name will become available to the public on a first come, first served basis.

If you don’t take the domain name that’s yours by priority you stand to lose your valuable intellectual property and worse, you could open yourself up to a cybercriminal buying that name and pretending to be you.

To help protect your Intellectual Property and prevent cyber criminals from impersonating your business, speak to our team today.