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DNA loses appeal
Chris Jenkins
SEPTEMBER 10, 2004
THE federal court has dismissed an appeal by Domain Names Australia against an April ruling that letters it sent out concerning the domain names of local businesses were misleading and deceptive.
The initial case was brought against Domain Names Australia and its sole director Charles Rafferty by the Australia Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and regulator of the ".au" country code top level domain, .au Domain Administration (AuDA).
The ACCC and auDA alleged forms posted out by DNA inviting companies to register particular domain names relevant to their business had been made to appear as if the companies had already registered the domains being offered, and were therefore obliged to pay for them.
The forms, it was alleged, contravened the Trade Practices Act.
The forms were sent to hundreds of thousands of Australian businesses in June, July and September last year.
Justice Finkelstein ruled in favour of the ACCC and auDA, finding that the representations made in the letters were "misleading or deceptive or likely to mislead or decieve".
DNA lodged an appeal in August, claiming the judegement "failed to prove that ordinary or reasonable recipeints would have been misled or deceived".
AuDA chief executive Chris Disspain welcomed the dismissal of the appeal, saying his organisation would move to secure refunds from DNA through a class action.
