Domain names--a hot topic for Australian enterprises trying to brand themselves online. But do we really understand the ownership issues behind the name?

The domain name industry has been hit by its fair share of furore in recent weeks, with legal battles and claims of misleading marketing.

Yet one of the often-forgotten issues is the importance of the name in the domain name.

People think that they've paid money for a domain name so it's theirs, argues Matthew Hall a partner at law firm Phillips Fox.

He said that businesses didn't always carefully read the agreement they had signed with their reseller which sets out the terms under which they had obtained rights to that particular name.

However, he added that businesses also needed to keep in mind that they were only in effect "leasing" their domain name from the Australian Domain Administration (auDA). "They have to take appropriate steps to protect their position," Hall warned. "In one sense a domain name is nothing more than an address."

"They should view it as a potentially very valuable asset for the business, particularly any business with a strong online presence," Hall said.

He said it was seeing increasing numbers of people applying for trademark protection for their domain names, under the assumption that it would prevent anyone else from using that name.

"They need to be aware that it is just one component of their brand protection strategy and that people should not get so focussed on domain name issues that they forget about other issues in terms of protection of their brand or name," he argued, adding that companies also had a better chance of protecting their brand on the Internet if they had a strong and coordinated brand strategy in the bricks-and-mortar world.

Domain name issues aren't new to Australian businesses. Hassles such as unsolicited renewal notices are something Luke Ryan, group management accountant at document management firm Ausdoc, knows firsthand. He said that receiving these unsolicited notices was one catalyst for the company to look at outsourcing management of its domain names.

Ryan said historically there had been six divisions in the company, with each looking after management of its domain names--which generally ranged between one and six names. Nor was there any no uniform policy on using different domain names, Ryan explained.

According to Ryan, Ausdoc opted to outsource management of its domain names to registrar Melbourne IT, which includes handling the registration and reregistration of the domain names for its various divisions.

Although he admits the company hasn't done a full review of its use of domain names as a specific project, Ryan said it had assessed it at Ausdoc's corporate offices. "Now we've got a more uniform approach," he said. "It has made it a lot easier."

Changes at the regulation level have also come into effect in recent months. Entitlement to obtain .com.au domain name licences has changed, following policy amendments to auDA polices to bring them more in line with the .com space, according to information from law firm Phillips Fox.

Previously, eligibility for a .com.au domain name had been based on the derivation rule, which meant that an applicant's proposed domain name had to be derived from its business or company name, the law firm stated in its IT & eCommerce e-Bulletin.

However, this is no longer necessary. A 'close and substantial rule' now means that businesses can register multiple domain names for their businesses that had previously been disallowed, the e-Bulletin stated.

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