Bottle Domains Pty Ltd breaches transfers and password policies

Posted by Janelle Backman on 9 June 2009

auDA has found that Bottle Domains Pty Ltd, an accredited registrar, breached the Transfers (Change of Registrar of Record) Policy (2003-03) and the Domain Name Password Policy (2002-29) .

On 9-11 May 2009, approximately 20,000 domain names were transferred from Australian Style Pty Ltd trading as Bottle Domains to Bottle Domains Pty Ltd. Refer to the earlier announcement by auDA (12/05/09).

auDA has since conducted further investigations into the transfers incident and confirmed its initial finding that Bottle Domains Pty Ltd:

• breached the Transfers (Change of Registrar of Record) Policy, because it did not obtain the registrants’ consent to the transfer of their domain names; and   
• breached the Domain Name Password Policy, because it did not obtain the registrants’ consent to change their Domain Name Passwords.

In response, Bottle Domains Pty Ltd has claimed to auDA that:

• it did not breach the Transfers (Change of Registrar of Record) Policy, because that policy does not apply to transfers between registrars which are related entities; and
• its breach of the Domain Name Password Policy was unintentional and inadvertant.

auDA’s position is that the Transfers (Change of Registrar of Record) Policy is unambigious. The first sentence of the policy states: “This document sets out auDA's policy on the transfer of a registered domain name which results in a change to the registrar of record in the registry database.” The transfers from Australian Style Pty Ltd trading as Bottle Domains to Bottle Domains Pty Ltd resulted in a change to the registrar of record in the registry database, and therefore it is clear that the policy applies.

In accordance with auDA’s standard practice in these matters, auDA has requested Bottle Domains Pty Ltd to acknowledge that its actions were in breach of auDA policies, and to give an undertaking to auDA that it will not commit further breaches of auDA policy.

Bottle Domains Pty Ltd has notified auDA that it will not give the requested acknowledgement and undertaking unless, amongst other things, auDA now takes steps to allow and facilitate the transfers between Australian Style Pty Ltd trading as Bottle Domains and Bottle Domains Pty Ltd as a “special case”.

This proposal is not acceptable to auDA.

Given that the transfers incident is now part of court proceedings involving Australian Style Pty Ltd trading as Bottle Domains , auDA will await the outcome of those proceedings before taking any further actions in relation to this matter.