Domain names and trademarks — beware

Registering a domain name feels like locking in your brand online. On its own, though, it gives you no exclusive rights to that brand. A domain is simply an address that points people to your website. It is not a property right in your name, and it will not stop a competitor from using, or even registering, a confusingly similar brand. Every week, Australian businesses learn this the hard way, often after they have already spent money on signage, packaging and advertising.

The good news is that the fix is straightforward once you understand how the pieces fit together. This guide explains what a domain actually gives you, why only a registered trademark protects the brand itself, the specific rules that apply to .au domains, and how to avoid the cyber-squatting traps.

A domain is an address, not ownership

When you register a domain, you are paying a registrar for the right to use that web address for a fixed period, usually one or two years at a time. You are renting a signpost, not buying the brand on it.

That distinction matters because:

• Owning yourbrand.com.au does not stop someone else registering “Your Brand” as a trademark.
• It does not protect you if your name turns out to infringe a trademark that already exists. In that situation you can be the one who is asked to stop trading under the name, rebrand, or even face a claim for damages.
• It does not give you the legal right to stop a rival launching under a near-identical name in your industry.

Only a registered trademark does those things. A trademark is the badge of origin for your goods or services, and registration gives you an exclusive, enforceable, Australia-wide right to that brand for the classes you register. If protecting the brand is the goal, the domain is the easy part and the trademark is the substance. You can run a free brand check with our trademark search tool before you commit.

Domain, business name, company name, trademark — what each one really does

These four are constantly confused, and the confusion is expensive. Here is what each one gives you.

What you register	What it actually is	Brand ownership?	Who runs it
Domain name	A web address that points to your site	No	Registrar / auDA (for .au)
Business name	A name you trade under, on a public register	No	ASIC
Company name	The legal name of a registered company	No	ASIC
Registered trademark	A legal right in the brand itself	Yes	IP Australia

The first three are administrative. They let you operate, invoice and appear on a register, but none of them stops anyone else from using or trademarking the same name. This is the single most common and costly myth we see. For a fuller breakdown, see our guide on business names vs trademarks.

.au eligibility rules you need to know

Australian domains are administered by auDA (the .au Domain Administration), and they are not open to just anyone. To hold a .au domain — including com.au, net.au, org.au and the shorter direct .au namespace — you must have a genuine Australian presence. In practice that usually means an Australian company (ACN), an ABN, a registered business name, or another qualifying connection to Australia.

A few practical points:

• com.au and the direct .au carry the strictest eligibility rules and are the most sought-after by Australian businesses.
• If your Australian presence lapses (for example, your ABN is cancelled), you can become ineligible to keep the domain.
• A trademark application or registration is itself one accepted form of Australian presence, and it can also support a closer match between your domain and your brand name.

Meeting the eligibility rules gets you the address. It still does not give you ownership of the brand — that remains a job for a trademark.

Cyber-squatting and bad-faith registrations

Cyber-squatting is when someone registers a domain that matches, or sits close to, a brand they have no genuine connection with, hoping to sell it back to the brand owner, divert traffic, or trade off the reputation. Australian brands are targeted constantly, and new businesses are especially exposed in the gap between announcing a name and protecting it.

Common patterns to watch for:

• Exact-match grabs — someone registers yourbrand.com.au or the .au version before you do.
• Typosquatting — small misspellings such as yourbarnd.com.au that catch mistyped traffic.
• Extension sweeps — registering your name across many extensions to box you in.
• Lapsed-domain sniping — picking up a domain the moment a renewal is missed.

A registered trademark is your strongest hand in any of these disputes. auDA administers a dispute process, the auDRP (the .au Dispute Resolution Policy), which lets a rightful owner challenge a domain that was registered or is being used in bad faith and that is identical or confusingly similar to a name in which they have rights. Holding a registered trademark gives you clear, documented rights to point to, which makes that process far more likely to go your way. Without a trademark, you are arguing from a weaker position built only on reputation.

Get the order right

The mistake most people make is to secure the domain, build the website, print everything, and only then think about the trademark. By then the brand is exposed and any conflict is painful to fix. The sensible order is:

1. Search the name as a trademark first. Check it is genuinely available, not just as a domain but as a brand. Use our trademark search and our class finder to see which classes matter for what you sell.
2. Register the trademark to secure ownership of the brand across the classes that cover your goods and services. Government fees are about $250 per class using IP Australia’s pick-list, or $400 per class for custom wording (the schedule changed on 1 October 2024), and a registration lasts 10 years.
3. Lock in your domains around the now-protected brand. Secure the com.au, the direct .au and the main extensions, and check eligibility before you buy.
4. Renew on time — both the domain and, in due course, the trademark, so neither lapses and becomes a target.

Doing it in this order means your domain, your business name and your trademark all point at the same protected brand, and you are not building on a name you do not actually own.

Common questions

Does owning the domain mean I own the brand? No. A domain is a rented web address. Brand ownership comes only from a registered trademark, which gives you the exclusive right to stop others using a confusingly similar name for the goods and services you registered.

Can I be sued over a domain name? Yes. If your domain or branding conflicts with someone else’s registered trademark, you can be required to stop using the name and may face a claim. Registering the domain first does not protect you.

Someone registered a domain matching my brand — can I get it back? If you have rights in the name (a registered trademark is the strongest) and the domain was registered or used in bad faith, you can challenge it through auDA’s auDRP dispute process. Your position is much stronger when you hold a registered trademark.

Do I need an ABN to hold a .au domain? You need a genuine Australian presence, which usually means an ABN, an ACN, a registered business name, or another qualifying connection such as an Australian trademark. The com.au and direct .au namespaces apply the strictest eligibility rules.

Should I register the domain or the trademark first? Search and secure the trademark side first, because that is what actually protects the brand. Then register your domains around it. If you must grab a domain quickly to stop someone else taking it, do so, but treat the trademark as the priority.

Where to start

Start by checking whether your name is free, both as a domain and as a brand. Run a quick, free availability check with our domain checker, then confirm the brand side with our trademark search. When you are ready to protect the name properly, our team can align your domain strategy with the right trademark filing — talk to us about domains or read more about registering a trademark. Getting the order right now is far cheaper than untangling a conflict later.