Barry

You may want to get some actual legal advice on that rather than just
the advice of the administration officer at the OFT. I know i have
spoken to many a govt employee who says one thing then another
employee will say something totally different. Most don't know the
location of their own backside so law is not going to be their
speciality.

Quoted from the Business Names Act 1962.

Definition "business name" means a name, style, title, or designation
under which a
business is carried on.

I would call the large wording at the top of your website a "Title"
and it is the same as your domain name.

Section 5 Certain business names to be registered
(1) A person shall not either alone or in association with other persons
carry on business in the State under a business name unless—
(a) the business name consists of the name of that person and the
name of each other person (if any) in association with whom that
person is so carrying on business without any addition; or
(b) the business name is registered under this Act in relation to that
person and each other person (if any) in association with whom
that person is so carrying on business;

I have serched your complete site and i can not find any information
stating that you are trading under your own name. The business appears
to me to be trading under the name "Australian Websites".

You may have your name on the invoices for payment but you are
solicting the sale via the name "Australian Websites" which is a
breach of the act. There is no provision within the act that allows
you to call yourself whatever you want so long as you use your name to
finalise the transaction.

Regards

On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 15:14:16 +1000, info§australianwebsites.com
<info&#167;australianwebsites.com> wrote:
> Greg,
> 
> I am happy to answer your question.
> 
> Although it would have been better if you had actually done more research,
> and checked further into the legalities of trading as a business,
> before making an accusation of trading as a business illegally.
> 
> That was the main point I tried to make in my earlier post today,
> and earlier, in requesting supporting facts from Adam after he made
> criticisms / allegations against Planet Domain, "their technical support team"
> and Murray Kester, the Manager of Planet Domain,
> that public criticisms in this list should be based on facts only.
> 
> If you had done more research first into the legalities of trading as
> as business, you would have realised that my business is not trading illegally,
> and thus no need / point to make your post in the first place.
> 
> I am legally trading under the name Barry Armstrong
> 
> Anytime one of my clients writes a cheque it is made payable to Barry Armstrong
> 
> To give you some background information, I did, over 5 years ago, go to
> The Office of Fair Trading here in Queensland, to apply for and register the name
> 
> Australian Websites
> 
> or
> 
> Australian Websites.com
> 
> as a registered Business Name.
> 
> I paid $95 for the application which was the yearly fee at the time. After about
> 75 minutes lapsed I was informed by The Office of Fair Trading
> that I could not register the name
> 
> Australian Websites
> 
> or
> 
> Australian Websites.com
> 
> as a registered Business Name, due to the fact that there was already a business
> operating in Queensland which had already registered the Business Name of
> 
> Australian Website Development.com.au
> 
> They expalined they could not approve
> 
> Australian Websites
> 
> as a registered Business Name, because they regarded the name as too similar to
> this existing Business Name.
> 
> They went on to explain that it is perfectly fine for a business to call themselves
> any name and to be known by any name, as long as the business accepts payments
> only in the actual name of the owner of the business, and also that invoices to
> customers must state for example
> 
> "Fast Plumbing trading as Joe Smith"
> 
> All invoices that I issue to my clients state at the top of the invoice
> 
>                                                australianwebsites.com
> 
>                                            trading as Barry Armstrong
> 
>                                                A.B.N. 19014619422
> 
> The body of the invoice also includes
> 
> "Please make cheque or money order payable to Barry Armstrong
> 
> and post to -"
> 
> Whilst in the The Office of Fair Trading I also asked one of the senior staff there
> if they thought it would be possible to register
> 
> Australian Websites
> 
> as a trademark.
> 
> He explained that it would not be possible for myself or anyone in Australia
> to register
> 
> Australian Websites
> 
> as a trademark, as it was a generic, descriptive type of name and under Trademark law
> in Australia, generic descriptive type of names cannot be trademarked by anyone.
> 
> So, after receiving this advice from The Office of Fair Trading they returned
> my $95 application fee and I have traded under my real name as a business ever since.
> 
> In the more than 5 years since then I have never experienced a single customer raising
> any objection to making a cheque or money order payable to my real name.
> 
> I might make the point that if you are going to publicly ask a question
> 
> "What name are you trading under????"
> 
> it would be best to be patient and wait for a reply,
> before making an accusation and making statements like
> 
> "and get your own legalities in order"
> 
> Regards
> Barry Armstrong
> 
>  ----- Original Message -----
>  From: Greg
>  To: dns&#167;dotau.org
>  Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 12:58 PM
>  Subject: Re: [DNS] List rules
> 
>  Barry
> 
>  What name are you trading under????
> 
>  Seeing as your ABN number is only registered as a sole trader under
>  your name and has no registered business names. Therefore you should
>  legally only be trading as Barry Armstrong not illegally as Australian
>  Websites as Australian Websites is not a registered business name that
>  appears under any searches.
> 
>  Maybe you should concentrate on your own business and get your own
>  legalities in order before you start throwing stones.
> 
>  Regards
> 
>  On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 12:27:01 +1000, info&#167;australianwebsites.com
>  <info&#167;australianwebsites.com> wrote:
>  > Larry,
>  >
>  > I agree with everyone who thought the issue of the allegations
>  > initiated by Adam against Planet Domain, in reply to Jim's original
>  > post seeking help on a domain issue took too long to resolve.
>  >
>  > ( Due in part originally to the number of posts it took Adam
>  > to provide more specific information to support his allegations
>  > when invited to do so. )
>  >
>  > Let us remember that it was Adam, not I, who, at the mere
>  > mention of the 2 words
>  >
>  > "Planet Domain"
>  >
>  > in Jim's long email seeking help, chose to make the very first
>  > post as a reply to Jim's request for help.
>  >
>  > Did Adam's reply to Jim's post offer any help? No, it didn't.
>  >
>  > It was criticisms / allegations directed specifically at Planet Domain,
>  > "their technical support team" and Adam even went on to criticise
>  > Murray Kester, the Manager of Planet Domain, personally by name!
>  >
>  > It was at this point that a new issue was raised.
>  >
>  > Making criticisms / allegations against a Registrar is a serious matter
>  > and is messing with the livelihoods of all the people who work there
>  > and the people who are Resellers for Planet Domain also.
>  >
>  > Looking back now its a little sad that, overall, more time was spent by some people on
>  > debating procedural type issues like relevancy to a thread, than whether it was fair
>  > or just, to publicly criticise a Registrar, "their technical support team" and Murray Kester,
>  > the Manager of Planet Domain, and even arguing whether or not allegations like that
>  > should go unquestioned, and you Larry, by saying, and I quote,
>  >
>  > "Adam - he simply recounted his experience"
>  >
>  > implied those allegations were true.
>  >
>  > That serious allegations can be made which then start being referred to as
>  > though they were true, is a recipe for a truly unfair DNS list, were this list
>  > to be moderated to stifle 2 sided debate.
>  >
>  > As Trent pointed out
>  >
>  > "The 'other thread' is history and it was self moderated to a degree.
>  > In so doing, if just one person took some form of education away from it,
>  > then although annoying, it served its purpose."
>  >
>  > Proposals of moderation need to be very carefully thought about
>  > as moderation can easily become censorship in practice.
>  >
>  > I submit that 2 sided debate is always preferable to 1 sided negative
>  > allegations - where the person making those allegations goes unquestioned
>  > and / or unchallenged and supporting facts sought.
>  >
>  > A useful guideline for this list would be that if anyone is going
>  > to make a criticism of any person or company at anytime in the future
>  > it should be based on facts only, and they should be prepared to present
>  > those specific facts, or for example a link to a news article, to support their criticisms,
>  > and present them in a timely manner, so that debates are efficient, productive,
>  > and provide useful information.
>  >
>  > If any moderation included banning all non .au domain issues
>  > even Jim's original request for help would have been culled out
>  > as it regarded a .com domain only.
>  >
>  > As there is not a TLD list where people such as Jim can seek help
>  > and anyone can discuss TLD specific issues, perhaps a separate TLD
>  > list could be started.
>  >
>  > Regards
>  > Barry Armstrong
> 
>