Feb 1, 2022 - by Staff Writer
.AU and .TH Launching in Q1 2022
.AU
Au Domain Administration Limited (auDA) has announced the launch of .au direct. Domain names can be registered directly under the .AU top-level domain beginning March 24, 2022, through General Availability or the Launch Application Process. According to the registry, “.AU direct domain names, like getyour.au, are shorter, simpler domain names. .AU direct names are general purpose and open to anyone with a verified connection to Australia who wants to create or manage an online presence for themselves or their organization.”
.AU Timeline:
- General Availability: March 24, 2022
- Any organization with an Australian presence may register any available .au domain name. A domain is considered “available” as long as no equivalent registration under a second-level domain exists. For example, you cannot register example.au if example.net.au is already registered by someone else.
- Launch Application: March 24, 2022, until September 20, 2022
- The .AU version of all existing registrations under a second-level domain (.net.au, etc.) will be placed on priority hold by auDA on March 24, 2022, until September 20, 2022. For instance, if example.com.au were registered at any time before March 24, 2022, then example.au would be placed on hold automatically. During this time, the registrant of example.com.au can file a launch application to register example.au. The registrant details in the launch application (Name, Registrant ID, Eligibility Type, Eligibility Name, Eligibility ID) must match the registrant details used for the existing registration.
- Domains placed on priority hold that have not received any launch applications will become available for general registration on September 20, 2022, at which point anyone can register them.
- Launch application orders can be placed starting March 24, 2022.
- For those wishing to register the .AU equivalents of any existing registrations under a second-level domain (.net.au, etc.), we strongly recommend that you submit your applications before September 20, 2022. Please note that a launch application submission does not guarantee a successful registration, as multiple registrants may have submitted applications for the same .au registration.
.AU Requirements:
- Unlike registrations under second-level domains (.net.au, etc.), there are no requirements to have the .au domain registration match the registrant’s name or entity name. The Australian presence requirement for domain registrations under the top-level .au domain can be met by any of the following criteria:
- Registrant is a company, organization, association, cooperative, partnership, political party, trust, government entity, charity, educational institution, or partnership registered in Australia
- Registrant is the applicant or owner of an Australian trademark, where the domain name is an exact match of the Australian trademark application or registration
- Please note that if you want to register the .AU equivalents of any existing registrations under a second-level domain (.net.au, etc.) we strongly recommend that you submit your applications before September 20, 2022. Please note that a launch application submission does not guarantee a successful registration, as multiple registrants may have submitted applications for the same .au registration.
.TH
THNIC has announced the launch dates for .TH. According to the registry, .TH is particularly for businesses interested in registering domain names based on their trademark or organization’s name.
.TH Timeline:
- February 1 – March 31, 2022
.TH Requirements:
- For Trademark name in Thailand, documentation as below:
- A Certificate of Trademark issued by Intellectual Property office, Ministry of Commerce, Thailand
- For foreign trademarks registered in other countries and has authorized attorney in Thailand, documentation as below:
- A certificate of trademark registration (both original and English translation)
- An affidavit of local representative in Thailand
- A letter certified by a holder of a foreign trademark which includes the following issues:
- To certify that Thai company is a local representative
- To allow Thai company to use Foreign Trademark as their domain name
- This content also has to specify domain name
- For example letter, please visit at https://www.thnic.co.th/doc/doc.co/letter_eng_trademark.pdf
