Domain Directors, and its associated company, Instra Corporation, an auDA and ICANN accredited registrar, is continuing with its litigation against auDA.
The Supreme Court of Queensland today set down this litigation for trial for 2 February 2009.
In November, Domain Directors, an auDA and ICANN accredited registrar, commenced legal proceedings against auDA, the Australian domain name policy and regulatory body.
auDA had unilaterally suspended the registration of the domain name auregistry.com.au, and was in the process of cancelling Domain Director’s registration of this domain name.
auDA had asserted that a third party had made a complaint regarding Domain Director’s eligibility to own this domain name.
Domain Directors has owned and used the auregistry.com.au domain name for over eight years, without any issue.
Once challenged, auDA backed down and revealed that there was no third party complaint. auDA also reinstated the domain name and consented to court orders.
Days later, auDA then restarted the cancellation process, stating that there was a second complaint to auDA. When auDA was challenged regarding the second complaint, Chris Disspain, the CEO of auDA responded “I am handling this issue. The request for eligibility information is not the result of an external complaint.”
Today in court, Mr Justice Chesterman asked the parties, “where does auDA’s power to cancel domain names come from?” He decided that the issues raised in Domain Director’s lawsuit were important commercial issues that required speedy resolution.
Tony Lentino, the CEO of Domain Directors, was pleased with the court’s actions.
“I look forward to my day in court. auDA is not above the law and must behave properly. Chris Disspain cannot just decide to delete someone’s domain name without good reason.”
Mr Lentino said that Domain Directors is preparing for trial. “auDA’s actions in deleting one of our long standing domain names was the final straw. We had no choice but to stand up to them. auDA should be subject to more external scrutiny. They are supposed to be a custodian of the Internet in Australia.”
John Swinson, partner of Mallesons Stephen Jaques, representing Domain Directors said: “This case will set important precedent in Australia and clarify auDA’s roles and powers.”
About Domain Directors
Domain Directors is an international registrar and provides an extensive range of over 200 country code Top Level Domain name extensions across Europe, America, and the Asia Pacific regions.
Domain Directors is a global supplier in the Domain Name and ENUM industry, with its head office in Melbourne, and offices in New Zealand and China.
For more information about Domain Directors, and its associated company, Instra Corporation, please visit http://www.instra.com
For Media Enquiries, please contact: media@instra.com