I must say I am disappointed that we never hear any opinions from the  
Demand Class Members of the Board. Perhaps a little insight would  
alleviate some of our concerns considering they are there purportedly  
to represent the average Joe.

Ian

On Thursday, March 24, 2005, at 12:57 PM, trent§sos.net.au wrote:

> One of the key points of .AU has been, in my experience, that it is  
> held as something you need to earn by Joe public.
> i.e. Generally speaking "Joe" has certain rights (real or imagined) if  
> he has the business name and conduct business under that name, he will  
> be seen as having a right to the name in question over and above  
> someone who doesn't fit that description.
>
> This perception has been mentioned to me by many clients looking to  
> start a web site for their business, in other words the marketing for  
> .AU has 'educated' them on the security of a .AU name. Until this  
> thread I have never felt hypocritical in agreeing with the spirit of  
> their belief. It sounds like the death knell for .AU's prominence, and  
> I think if this becomes more wide spread then the false security  
> people feel in .AU will crumble. Surely we don't want the this to be a  
> situation where it's just another domain name?
>
> As a related example...
> My understanding of copyright law, in some trades, is that you need to  
> change something by 30% in form or content in order to be considered  
> outside the protection of the copyright. Change it by 29% and you're  
> in breach. This was true when we altered our first house plans, and is  
> true in regards to many forms of artwork, though not all. If the  
> spirit of that same principal were brought into this, then they would  
> need to change more than just one letter in order to register a  
> potential competitor site, while not even being in the competitor's  
> field.
>
> I'll keep my fingers crossed, though I won't hold my breath.
>
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