Domain-name body going ahead

June 2005

 A challenge to the legitimacy of Britain's internet address registry, Nominet, appears unlikely to halt moves to establish a New Zealand domain name dispute-resolution process based on the Nominet model.

The original owner of the web address itunes.co.uk, Benjamin Cohen, is questioning Nominet's authority to decide domain-name disputes after being told to hand the address over to Apple Computer.

Cohen has told the Times Online that Nominet has no statutory authority to decide such arguments.

InternetNZ, which sets the rules for .nz domain names, also lacks statutory authority. But Rick Shera, who chairs the InternetNZ committee working on creation of a New Zealand dispute-resolution process, says such authority isn't required.

"In New Zealand and, as I understand it, in the UK, the whole thing is founded on contractual rights."