In my opinion the idea being proposed by ADNA and Professor Gerrand to add two new domains being tm.au and pr.au is not wise. The current problem with com.au is that business are finding it hard to register their trademarks and product names. I don't understand the reason why Melbourne IT will not allow this, as this is what there policy of "attempting to derive a domain name from the commercial entities legal name is all about".

If we assume that Melbourne IT is correct in not allowing certain tradenames under .com.au and we allow them to register under tm.au we are going to face massive new problems.

For those who do not understand trademarks, a company that owns a registered trademark only owns it with respect to certain type of goods and services. For example Prince owns an Australian trademark for tennis racquets however a computer company also owns a trademark called prince. How will it be decided who has the superior right to prince.tm.au? In most cases there will be more than 2 entities that own a registered trademark in respect of more than 2 categories of goods thus the legal fights will be enormous.
Thus we are back to the same problems as we have under .com.au except worse because we are saying tm.au is reserved for trademarks, but whose trademark is it reserved for?

Any comments would be appreciated..

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