Australian domain name regulator auDA is investigating a possible breach of policy following the launch of a controversial marketing campaign by Bottle Domains.

The investigation was prompted after Bottle Domains registered .id.au domain names on behalf of its customers following an AusRegistry initiative to give away 50,000 of the personalised domain names. Industry figures say the action is a clear breach of policy, and auDA's chief executive, Chris Disspain, has confirmed it is investigating, but would not issue any further comment.

Bottle Domains manager Nick Bolton has defended the practice. "They are our customers, so we think it's a fair assumption that they would want to register the domain through us," he told ZDNet Australia . "In no way have we set out to mislead and deceive other people's customers ... we're giving our customers a gift that's pretty transparent."

Customers of Bottle Domains received an e-mail which explained the "gift". "Your domain *.id.au has been registered on your behalf for a 6 month trial period," it read. The e-mail then went on to explain that recipients of the offer could reject the offer and de-register the domain name simply by clicking through on a link in the e-mail.

However, Larry Bloch, the chief executive of rival domain name business NetRegistry, says that Bottle have made a mistake. "I find it quite extraordinary that they weren't aware of the restrictions in the code of conduct," he said. "I would expect some sort of censure by auDA."

The way Bloch sees it is if someone had received an offer from his company, which is also offering free .id.au domain names, and attempted to register it through NetRegistry, they would be unable to because it was already registered through Bottle Domains.

Policies relating to what Bloch calls "front running" have clearly been breached, he said. "What they did is (if you happen to be a Bottle customer) register the name on your behalf ... that is absolutely 100 percent not allowed," he said.

As for Bolton's defense of the practice, Bloch says he believes Bottle's boss has simply made an honest mistake. "I'm happy to give Bottle the benefit of the doubt ... it's a misunderstanding," he said.

"I think [Bolton] should just take it on the chin," he added.

Although he doesn't believe his company has breached policy, Bolton concedes that it's possible Bottle got it wrong. "I'll be happy to see an auDA clarification. If we're wrong, we're wrong."

Praising the AusRegistry initiative, he says Bottle is a true believer in the .id.au domain name space, and his company's marketing initiative was supposed to be "in the spirit of the offer".

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