Bids top 13m for qant.as domain

Rhythm · #1 09-03-10, 04:08 PM

Quote:

AN online entrepreneur who owns the domain name Qant.as claims a buyer is willing to pay $1.3 million to wrest control of it but it's not the flying kangaroo.

Dominic Holland held a private auction this week and says he invited top Qantas executives, including CEO Alan Joyce, to participate but to no avail.

Mr Holland said that repeated attempts to contact Qantas had fallen on deaf ears and that the airline had made a mistake in ignoring him.

"The domain name Qant.as could be snapped up by a competitor so damage to Qantas's business could be in the millions of dollars," Mr Holland claimed.

"By not participating in the bid process this shows gross oversight on behalf of Qantas's entire marketing department."

Mr Holland originally purchased the domain name for around $20.

He said that bidding started at $1m and finished at $1.35m.

"Deal finalisations have commenced and this means that every URL such as http://Qant.as/flights or http://Qant.as/rewards will redirect to a competitor's website."

Mr Holland declined to reveal the identity of the highest bidder but it wasn't Qantas competitor Virgin Blue.

According to Virgin Blue spokeswoman Amanda Bolger, the company did not participate in the bid process.

A Qantas spokeswoman said the company was "working to ensure there's no confusion over our domain names".

Qantas declined to comment on possible legal action but Mr Holland believes Qantas has no grounds for legal recourse.

"A company or entity may seek legally the rights to a domain name in a similar fashion as that of trademark law. This means that a domain name must be proven to be, include or contain a trademark for which may attract consumers or viewers through utilising a known trademark.

"However, this does not extend to the extension of a domain name, and only applies to the preceding letters.

"In this case Qantas would have to prove that consumers would be drawn to that domain because of the use of 'Qant'. However, as they have at no point advertised, portrayed or conducted themselves with 'Qant' they hold no legal rights to the domain. The extension .as or any extension is not taken into consideration as legally it is considered an indicator of domain type or location," he said.

Mr Holland said he was still open to more offers. In the meantime he has redirected Qant.as to display Virgin Blue's homepage.

Rhythm · #2 09-03-10, 04:11 PM

Would be interesting to see the ruling on this if it goes to arbitration.

Oz. · #3 09-03-10, 04:13 PM

Its $1.3millionish. I posted about it somewhere else here but think it deserves its own thread.

I say "fake". The guy is asking for trouble.

FirstPageResults · #4 09-03-10, 04:57 PM

sounds like a publicity stunt.. seriously who would fork out that kind of money for a hack domain of a brand

Bacon Farmer · #5 09-03-10, 05:45 PM

I reckon he's got a few flying kangaroos loose in the top paddock.

Jonathan · #6 09-03-10, 06:07 PM

Agreed, total BS.

Honan · #7 09-03-10, 06:12 PM

He also owns nopoint.com.au
I am wondering if he is the comedian at www.DominicHolland.com
It appears there is "no point" to his publicity release apart from being funny

Oz. · #8 09-03-10, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by http://qant.as/

Create your Qant.as short URL

Haha

Quote:

Originally Posted by http://qant.as/

Want to buy the Qant.as URL shortener? CLICK HERE

Hahahaha

Jonathan · #9 09-03-10, 07:08 PM

I think it's also very telling that a mainstream newspaper was able to be fooled like this. We all know this is a total non-story, but they bought it hook, line, and sinker.

Just goes to show how clueless the general public (journalists included!) is about this kind of stuff.

montecristo · #10 09-03-10, 07:09 PM

It's all a bit wank, but I reckon the more stories about domains hitting the media in Australia is a good thing. All news is good news.

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