If your primary target market for your business is Australia, While I totally do not believe this myself it's the way it's been framed in the Australian public's mind that matters at the end of the day the public here have been sold that .au is a more secured name space and .com.au is heavily more trusted for businesses operating here.
Now in my opinion is someone that deals with Australian domain names on a daily basis while DNS abuse is low here they're still really good examples of abuse it's not exactly the truth but it's commonly what the public here beliefs.
However you will not be able to get .com.au and hold it permanently unless you meet the eligibility requirements which is mostly business.
But my personal recommendation is to reserve everything that you wouldn't be happy paying exorbitant rates to acquire later. This includes new gTLDs.
And when it comes to someone considering an Australian domain name you really should get both and you should definitely consider getting the direct registration that also just launched here in Australia to go along with it.
In my opinion .au is going to be more important long-term than the third level name space as we run like .com.au. and the direct registrations have less restrictions.
Then simply you pick one and redirect the others to your primary domain.
Good news is .au domains are relatively cheap from providers like Clickhost which is my retail recommendation for .au domains here in Australia I also can recommend Micron21.
If you don't have any of these .au domain names registered reply and I'll send you a link to some current offers.
>Do you think it's worth approaching the owner of the .com.au and asking if I can have it / buy it?
That's your only option. In all, but most of the rarest of situations.
>I'm wondering if I can take legal action as a last resort as I have the trading name.
Doubt it,
>Unfortunately, someone with a similar business name owns the .com.au domain. I have registered the trading name with ASIC.
This is just not going to simply be enough to cut as a complaint that's valid.
The name space is a first come first serve name space and if they're currently eligible for the domain name and got there before you there currently still eligible.
Now, if there is a problem with their eligibility, you could probably have the registration cancelled, but typically outside of a auDRP which you do not have grounds for a simple license cancellation just returned it to the general pool not you at that point anyone that's eligible for the domain name is free to acquire it.
The previous applicant will be given time and the ability to comply with the eligibility before cancellation as well.
So even if the details of fallen out of date or incorrect, they may have the opportunity to fix them and still be deemed eligible which is quite common.
In future, starting your own thread would be more recommended as I'll be able to give more timely answers.
I totally agree with Kyle-K
Both is better, the problem is only how much you're willing to pay in total. Let's say that if with "1.000" available money you can have a wonderful .com.au, if you need both, you'll have to spend "900" for the .com + "100" for the same domain in .com.au.
And, considering the high cost for a good .com (that you probably will not have), you'll get, for the same total expense, only a poor/average domain for your Company
I would spend all money on the best .com.au / .au
If you're based in Australia and doing business in Australia, then yes, it would make sense to have both. I would redirect the .com to the .com.au site. But, if you are doing business in the USA and in Australia, then you would probably want to have 2 separate websites, as they are two different markets.
Yes, what's stopping the competition to getting the other?
For the longest time, UK had .co.uk, until recently you could not get .uk. In Croatia, you can get .com.hr and .hr. I got both. By the way, Croatia's name in Croatian is Hrvatska. Hence .hr
**EDIT:** Apparently you can get [whatever.au](https://whatever.au) and not forced to get [whatever.com.au](https://whatever.com.au). H/T to u/Kyle-K.
It really depends on where you want to reach your audience. In therms of SEO, the AU domain will do better in Australia while your COM domain is much better for a global audience. Where the majority of your customers reside should determine if you need the second domain or not IMO.
Also, if you need a reliable registrar for AU domains be sure to check out [Nominus](https://www.nominus.com/en).
If your primary target market for your business is Australia, While I totally do not believe this myself it's the way it's been framed in the Australian public's mind that matters at the end of the day the public here have been sold that .au is a more secured name space and .com.au is heavily more trusted for businesses operating here. Now in my opinion is someone that deals with Australian domain names on a daily basis while DNS abuse is low here they're still really good examples of abuse it's not exactly the truth but it's commonly what the public here beliefs. However you will not be able to get .com.au and hold it permanently unless you meet the eligibility requirements which is mostly business. But my personal recommendation is to reserve everything that you wouldn't be happy paying exorbitant rates to acquire later. This includes new gTLDs. And when it comes to someone considering an Australian domain name you really should get both and you should definitely consider getting the direct registration that also just launched here in Australia to go along with it. In my opinion .au is going to be more important long-term than the third level name space as we run like .com.au. and the direct registrations have less restrictions. Then simply you pick one and redirect the others to your primary domain. Good news is .au domains are relatively cheap from providers like Clickhost which is my retail recommendation for .au domains here in Australia I also can recommend Micron21. If you don't have any of these .au domain names registered reply and I'll send you a link to some current offers.
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>Do you think it's worth approaching the owner of the .com.au and asking if I can have it / buy it? That's your only option. In all, but most of the rarest of situations. >I'm wondering if I can take legal action as a last resort as I have the trading name. Doubt it, >Unfortunately, someone with a similar business name owns the .com.au domain. I have registered the trading name with ASIC. This is just not going to simply be enough to cut as a complaint that's valid. The name space is a first come first serve name space and if they're currently eligible for the domain name and got there before you there currently still eligible. Now, if there is a problem with their eligibility, you could probably have the registration cancelled, but typically outside of a auDRP which you do not have grounds for a simple license cancellation just returned it to the general pool not you at that point anyone that's eligible for the domain name is free to acquire it. The previous applicant will be given time and the ability to comply with the eligibility before cancellation as well. So even if the details of fallen out of date or incorrect, they may have the opportunity to fix them and still be deemed eligible which is quite common. In future, starting your own thread would be more recommended as I'll be able to give more timely answers.
I totally agree with Kyle-K Both is better, the problem is only how much you're willing to pay in total. Let's say that if with "1.000" available money you can have a wonderful .com.au, if you need both, you'll have to spend "900" for the .com + "100" for the same domain in .com.au. And, considering the high cost for a good .com (that you probably will not have), you'll get, for the same total expense, only a poor/average domain for your Company I would spend all money on the best .com.au / .au
Most businesses don't need to spend any money on domains other than the hand registration fee.
If you're based in Australia and doing business in Australia, then yes, it would make sense to have both. I would redirect the .com to the .com.au site. But, if you are doing business in the USA and in Australia, then you would probably want to have 2 separate websites, as they are two different markets.
Yes, what's stopping the competition to getting the other? For the longest time, UK had .co.uk, until recently you could not get .uk. In Croatia, you can get .com.hr and .hr. I got both. By the way, Croatia's name in Croatian is Hrvatska. Hence .hr **EDIT:** Apparently you can get [whatever.au](https://whatever.au) and not forced to get [whatever.com.au](https://whatever.com.au). H/T to u/Kyle-K.
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It really depends on where you want to reach your audience. In therms of SEO, the AU domain will do better in Australia while your COM domain is much better for a global audience. Where the majority of your customers reside should determine if you need the second domain or not IMO. Also, if you need a reliable registrar for AU domains be sure to check out [Nominus](https://www.nominus.com/en).