We previously wrote that, from 24 March 2022, individuals, businesses and organisations with an Australian presence will be able to apply to register a domain name of their choosing directly before the .au namespace (e.g. yournamehere.au).
From this date, many applications for .au domain names will be granted on a ’first come, first served‘ basis. Therefore, interested individuals, businesses and organisations should apply to register their desired .au domain names on or shortly after 24 March 2022, or risk losing them to someone else.
Where a corresponding domain name with an Australian namespace (e.g. yournamehere.com.au, yournamehere.org.au or yournamehere.gov.au) already exists, the approach will be different. In such cases, the .au domain name will be reserved for up to a six-month period during which only the owner(s) of a corresponding domain name with an Australian namespace will be eligible to apply for it.
If a .au domain name interests you, you may wish to purchase a corresponding Australian domain name before 24 March 2022 to support a claim to priority in the .au domain name between 24 March and 24 September 2022.
If only one owner of a corresponding domain name with an Australian namespace in fact exists, and that owner applies for the .au domain name within six months of 24 March 2022, the .au domain name will be allocated to that applicant in a short space of time.
If two or more owners of a corresponding domain name with an Australian namespace apply for the .au domain name by 24 September 2022, the .au domain name will be allocated to one or other of them according to the scheme described in our previous article.
If none of the owners of a corresponding domain name with an Australian namespace apply for the .au domain name by 24 September 2022, anyone will then be able to apply for the .au domain name on a first come, first served basis.
If you would like further information or assistance in applying for a .au domain name, please contact us.
Naomi Pearce
CEO, Executive Lawyer (AU, NZ), Patent & Trade Mark Attorney (AU, NZ)
Naomi is the founder of Pearce IP, and is one of Australia’s leading IP practitioners. Naomi is a market leading, strategic, commercially astute, patent lawyer, patent attorney and trade mark attorney, with over 25 years’ experience, and a background in molecular biology/biochemistry. Ranked in virtually every notable legal directory, highly regarded by peers and clients, with a background in molecular biology, Naomi is renown for her successful and elegant IP/legal strategies.
Among other awards, Naomi is ranked in Chambers, IAM Patent 1000, IAM Strategy 300, is a MIP “Patent Star”, and is recognised as a WIPR Leader for patents and trade marks. Naomi is the 2023 Lawyers Weekly “IP Partner of the Year”, the 2022 Lexology client choice award recipient for Life Sciences, the 2022 Asia Pacific Women in Business Law “Patent Lawyer of the Year” and the 2021 Lawyers Weekly Women in Law SME “Partner of the Year”. Naomi is the founder of Pearce IP, which commenced in 2017 and won 2021 “IP Team of the Year” at the Australian Law Awards.