Hang on George

I don't think that it is too much of an assumption at all. After all, if
'dart' was seen as a generic sporting name, its domain would be
'darts.com.au'.

'dart' speaks to me of jumping rapidly to and fro - surely not a sport.

Moreover, if MelbourneIT bend their rules (which we all know they do), they
should be doing so to the advantage of the Internet industry, not
frustrating it.

All Internet companies essentially have the same goal - to grow the
Internet in Australia - from this each of our niches grows. Frustrating
situations like the one Dart are experiencing are not good for ALL Internet
companies in Australia, because it detracts from the prime goal - to grow
this industry.

I personally support Dart's position. I think they should have every right
to dart.com.au because it is not the generic name of a sport and therefore
doesn't conflict with their rules.

I also think that the rules themselves are very wrong. A generic or
desirable name does not give an advantage of itself - its the content and
marketing that exploit a desireable name.

Location location location. Nobody restricts street locations a business
can have if they are desireable. There may be differential pricing, but the
location is essentially available.

Over 90% of the Internet does not have these restrictions. Why should com.au?

I should also mention that I have a vested interest in this issue, as
NetRegistry is soon launching a National Domain Registry under .au.com with
none of the restrictions MelbourneIT impose (apart from FCFS :-).

Larry Bloch
CEO


At 09:04 29/01/98 +1000, you wrote:
>
>  As stated above had dart.com.au been accepted that would have been that. As
>  I had invested quit a lot of money into the venture prior to getting a
>  domain name, ie: company formation etc. I needed to use dart.???.au
>
>Uh, lets re-state this.
>
>	You invested your (and possibly other peoples) money in a company
>	with an *assumption* you would have a specific dns nameform, and
>	had product, literature, advertizing and publically visible activity
>	made with that name before you OWNED it?
>
>Gee. I don't think you can blame all of your problems on other people.
>
>Maybe the world needs a DNS FAQ #101 with some suggestions like
>
>	Your DNS name may not be what you initially apply for, or expect.
>	If you make critical business assumptions about your online presence
>	before legal ownership, caveat emptor applies.
>
>DNS in Australia has some problems, but not all problems are the fault of DNS
>management.
>
>-George
>--
>George Michaelson         |  DSTC Pty Ltd
>Email: ggm§dstc.edu.au    |  University of Qld 4072
>Phone: +61 7 3365 4310    |  Australia
>  Fax: +61 7 3365 4311    |  http://www.dstc.edu.au
> 
---
Larry Bloch                              email:  larry§netregistry.com.au
Chief Executive Officer                  Office: +61-(0)2-9555 6299
                                         Fax:    +61-(0)2-9555 5808
NetRegistry Pty Limited

Domain House, 3 Hosking Street, Balmain, Sydney NSW 2041