Regarding Chesley Rafferty’s claim in the newspaper article below that I am “obsessive compulsive” about his operations, I have the following statement to make:
It is the type of behaviour that is of interest not the personalities. I have been consistent with my approach to this kind of behaviour long before Chesley Rafferty and Bradley Norrish arrived on the scene (see the domainwatch.org and dotau.org archives). It is also my belief that past behaviour is usually the best predictor of future behaviour.
As long as domain registrants believe they are being misled and deceived then I will continue to watch those companies and people responsible.
Mark Spektor (Internet Name Group) asserted ” … Rowe has been conducting a smear campaign against us for sometime and has refused to desist … ”
” … Mr Rafferty accuses Mr Rowe of being “obsessive compulsive” about his operations … ”
Blair Rafferty’s DomainName.com.au Pty Ltd, which ” … (Chesley) Rafferty says he has nothing to with the operation of … “, is the latest addition to the watch list.
Here are some of the companies and people reported on domainwatch.org - does Chesley Rafferty’s quote in today’s Age infer that they all relate to him?
” …
Domain name entrepreneur declared bankrupt
Nick Miller
July 11, 2006
Next
CONTROVERSIAL internet domain name entrepreneur Brad Norrish has been declared bankrupt, but the brother of his former business partner is still selling domain names.
Domainwatch.org, a self-appointed watchdog of Mr Norrish’s operations has warned businesses to keep a keen eye out for domain name marketing spam that closly resembles an invoice.
Mr Norrish, 27, from Western Australia, was declared bankrupt last Monday, which he says will “bring varying levels of happiness to those involved in selling domains”.
Mr Norrish signed off an email to an industry listgroup with the promise, “if the game’s still worth playing in 3 years time I might just get a recall . . . with fresh legs”.
“The game” is the lucrative business of marketing domain name registrations. But Mr Norrish and his business partner, Chesley Rafferty, have been warned by the umpire that they play outside the rules.
Last year the Federal Court awarded $1.3 million damages for breach of copyright against Mr Norrish and Mr Rafferty. The court found they had used data mining search techniques to copy a British domain name registrar’s database of customers.
They then sent 50,000 “invoices” to those customers telling them their domain was up for renewal, a practice known as “domain slamming”.
Lesley Cowley, CEO of Nominet, says: “The bankruptcy brings an appropriate and successful end to the litigation against (Norrish and Rafferty).”
Mr Norrish says the bankruptcy “takes a lot of pressure off my shoulders”.
“It’s the end to a long and pitiful legal dispute,” he says.
He says he is still friends, but not a business partner, with Mr Rafferty.
In 2004, the Federal Court found Mr Rafferty and his company, Domain Names Australia (DNA), guilty of false and misleading conduct under the Trade Practices Act for a similar operation: mailing hundreds of thousands of notices that looked like invoices for renewal of a domain name.
If filled in and returned, the notices registered a new domain name through Mr Rafferty’s company.
The court instructed Mr Rafferty to let his customers know of the deception.
When contacted by Next, Mr Rafferty said there had been “a lot of hype” about his marketing style. DNA continued to operate after the Federal Court action, changing the notices to comply with the court’s ruling, he says.
DNA has since been wound up. Mr Rafferty says that since his bankruptcy late last year he has not been doing “anything” - apart from some consulting work - in the area of domain name marketing.
However, ASIC records reveal that Mr Rafferty’s younger brother, Blair, took over Chesley Rafferty’s roles as director of the companies Domains Australia, Domainname.com.au and Firebird Corporation.
Domainname.com.au, based in Melbourne but registered in WA, offers domain registration and website hosting.
According to the Domainwatch.org website, customers are complaining about marketing material that Domainname.com.au sends out offering domain name registration. One customer says the material gives the false impression of being invoices renewing an existing domain.
Domainwatch.org writer Josh Rowe says domain name registration is a difficult industry to police.
“Beware ‘invoices’ coming from companies you are not aware of, and always go back to check who you have registered a domain with,” Mr Rowe says.
However, Mr Rafferty accuses Mr Rowe of being “obsessive compulsive” about his operations.
“There’s a lot of people in the industry that got in trouble that he doesn’t seem to write about,” he says. “Where’s letters about (accused domain slammer) Domain Registry of America? They still mail into Australia . . . they would have made 10 times or more money than myself or Brad (Norrish).”
Mr Rafferty says he has nothing to to with the operation of his brother’s company, Domainname.com.au. Blair Rafferty could not be contacted by Next.
Mr Norrish says he is no longer marketing domain names.
“Domain names rate alongside roo shooting in terms of market size,” he says. “I would like to be in a market that there is more room to move in.”
Earlier this year he was accused of “cybersquatting” alternative versions of well-known corporations’ sites.
He attracted the ire of US sports TV channel ESPN by registering the domain name espn.com.au and was ordered to surrender ownership of the domain webjet.com.
However, Mr Norrish says the ESPN site was registered by an employee without his knowledge.
He says “in the past” he owned thousands of domain names because “the market was very cheap”, but the company that owned the names is in administration.
“I think domain name registration should be handled by a government department, along with business name registration and company registration,” he says.
“The ’self-regulated’ system at the moment really means that (domain register) auDA is controlled by popular vote of the majority of domain providers”.
… “
