auDA admits defeat - stephenconroy.com.au will stand

David Heath
Tuesday, 05 January 2010 16:02

Your IT - Home IT

Chris Disspain, CEO of the Australian Domain Authority (auDA) has agreed that Sapia's registration of stephenconroy.com.au is valid and will be upheld.

After yesterday reporting the return of the stephenconroy.com.au site, today we learn that auDA has acknowledged the validity of the ownership claim.

At 8:50 this morning, it seemed the re-raised Sword of Damocles was about to fall all over again.  Chris Disspain, auDA's CEO wrote:

I note that Sapia have re-registered the above name. The registry entry states that your eligibility is based upon a close and substantial connection between the registrant and the name under the Domain Name Eligibility and Allocation Policy Rules for Open 2LDs (2008-05) at http://www.auda.org.au/policies/auda-2008-05/.

Please provide me (by email to this address) with full details of the basis upon which Sapia claims such eligibility by no late than Noon today.

Yet again, the 3 hour rule seemed to apply.

Sapia didn't respond at once (history has made it very clear there was no point!).

However, almost exactly an hour later, at 9:52 this morning, a second email was received from Chris Disspain:

A subsequent examination of Sapia's registration reveals that Sapia registered the business name stephenconroy in Victoria on 18 December 2009. This means that Sapia is entitled to the domain name stephenconroy.com.au on the basis that it is an exact match of the business name. However, the registry database doesn't accurately reflect the current position and needs to be amended.

The easiest way to deal with the issue is if you call me and I explain over the phone. My number is XXXX XXX XXX.

Assuming the owners of the site have been accurate, this is quite clearly Chris Disspain's mobile number.

In a private conversation this evening with the owner of the re-registered stephenconroy site, iTWire sought clarification over the issues expressed by Disspain regarding the accuracy of the registry database. 

The owner responded, "I spoke to Chris on the phone today and he just asked us to update our eligibility in the registry.  When you register a domain you generally tell the registrar what your eligibility is, be it 'close and substantial connection', 'direct match with business name' or whatever.  The .com.au is currently registered as close and substantial connection and he's just asked us to update it to direct match and add the business registration number.  It's just a simple administrative thing and he was pretty good about it."

So, confirmation that the site has clear standing and won't be taken down.

We remain wondering about the level of implied interference (acknowledging of course that Conroy's office made no direct representation to auDA) over the original cancellation, and also what response Minister Conroy's office will have to the latest events.

One wonders if they will blink as brightly as they did the last time.