auDA confiscates dodgy Ansearch domains

June 2005

Australia's domain name regulator has seized more than 1,000 domains from Ansearch, saying the search engine company's intended use did not comply with its policies.

However, in a twist, more than 100 of those names -- which only came back onto the market last week -- have already been scooped up by a Perth-based Web hosting and online search company, Empius Interactive.

The chief executive of .au Domain Administration, Chris Disspain, confirmed this morning Ansearch had been forced to relinquish the names, which included several trademarked names and misspellings of popular Web destinations.

Some of the names believed to have been confiscated include celebrity-based names such as tomcruise.com.au, pamelaanderson.com.au, brands such as bandaid.com.au or australiaairlines.com.au and misspellings such as yahho.com.au.

While several companies had previously flagged their intention to complain about Ansearch's actions, Disspain was not prepared to comment on who had actually done so. However, he said the regulator would be looking in to the move by Empius, a spokesperson for whom was unavailable for comment.