A Domain Name, or URL (Uniform Resource Locator), is the unique address that allows your website to be found on the Web. You can also attach email accounts to your domain and the amount of accounts is only limted by the specifications of the hosting package provided by your Web Host.
In Australia domain names are administered by AUDA (Australian Domain Names Administrator) whose main role is to mange the use of .com.au domains for “fair and legitimate use”.
When you register a domain name you only have the right to use it, you don’t own it. This means AUDA has the right to revoke your registration if you haven’t complied with the rules of Australian Domain Registrations.
And this is a good thing. Imagine you have a business name and want the matching domain name but someone has already registered it before you. And the registrant doesn’t have a business that suits the domain name but rather is “Cyber Squatting” it in hope that he or she will be able to sell it at a high price to someone who wants it for legitimate use.
You have the ability to appeal the current registrants rights to the domain and AUDA can revoke the registration, meaning you still possibly can register it.
To find out more about AUDA and domain registrations in Australia go to www.auda.org.au
