On Tue, 22 Jan 2002 06:16:44 +1100, Adrian Stephan wrote:
> The three criteria are:
>
> 1.  They have a single word company name that pre-dates the internet as we
> know it today.
> 2.  The company name is exactly the same as a word that MelbourneIT has
> subsequently defined as a generic word and consequently been denied their
> exact company name as a domain name on this basis.
> 3.  That word (the established primary identity and exact company name of
> the business) is now up for public auction as a domain name.

Hi Adrian

Work backwards.  There are 3,000 names on the auction list. Eliminate the very
few multiple word names (which shouldn't be there anyway).  Then look the rest
up on ASIC's National Name Index or other business registers..

With hundreds of thousands of registered corporations and business names in
Australia, my guess is that the answer to your question will be "all of them".

Certainly there will be at least 2,000.  So you are not alone !!

But so what?  If you are making a statement that you are hard done by, you
have made that point very many times on this list already.  If you are making
the point that other businesses share your misfortune, well  . . . we knew
that !!

Personally I think you are investing far too much energy into a problem for
which, if you related it to people at a party, most people there wouldn't be
interested.  Or they would say "Oh, what bad luck" or "Oh, what a shame" and
move on to the next topic of conversation.

Most people learn to weather minor misfortunes, and even quite serious ones,
with a shrug.  How would you feel, for example, about the massive economic
downturn in Argentina?  Or the huge bad debts which are threatening to bring
down Japan and possibly China?  Or even the collapse of companies like Enron,
the seventh biggest in the world?

Or even non-economic issues like the plight of Australian refugees in Woomera?

I mean what's the point, anyway?  Even if everyone on the list voted in your
favour, there is not the remotest chance that "logistics.com.au" will get
taken off the auction list.  That would be seen as quite improper influence.

And even if the protest took to the streets in mass demonstrations, I would
think it highly unlikely that auDA would back down, at this late stage, from
its auction of generics.  Of course, I am speaking personally here !!

Why do I think that?  Simply because there are now thousands of people who
have accepted the proposal by lodging a submission for a generic domain name.
That's thousands of unhappy people as opposed to one.  Some, at least, would
take legal action.

If I were you, I would not misread expressions of sympathy as support for your
ongoing campaign to change the system.  It seems to me that your single-minded
obsession has blinded you to the fact that people have good and bad luck every
day of the week.

At least you company seems to be doing well.  So think yourself lucky.  I have
run out of personal funds supporting mine.  And that's quite a lot of money.
At least to me !!  And I am sure many of us on this list have other
misfortunes.

Deaths in the family, sickness etc.

To be blunt, any business adviser would tell you that there is little you can
do.  You should:

(a)    immediately lodge an application for "logistics.com.au", and
(b)    be quiet on the subject until the auction is over (so as not to alert
other companies in the logistics industry),

Should you be unsucessful getting the domain name, you should consider
changing your corporate name and brand (despite the many years you have had
it) to LOGISTIC.  This is actually quite a good name as it distinguishes you
from your fellows in the logistics industry.

However, the word "logistic" is very popular.  I have performed a Google
search on the word "logistic" at http://www.google.com/search?q=logistic and
was surprised at the popularity of the word.   I found, on the first 6 pages:

trans-logistic.org
logistic-net.com
logistic-solutions.com
logisticrecords.com
logistic-systems.com
transportlogistic.de
acs-logistic.fr
logisticsp.com
logisticdesign.co.uk
totallogistic.com
dklogistic.com
logisticaction.com
rsb-logistic.com
logisticdirections.com
logistic-data.com
rsb-logistic.de
logistic-world.com
airport-logistic-academy.de
worldlogistic.com
northstarlogistic.com
web-logistic.com
abc-logistic.com
onyxlogistic.com

Unfortunately, I could not find any reference to your own business.  I then
performed another search using the expression "logistic australia".  You
seemed not to be on the early pages there either.

I have also gone to your home page at "logistic.com.au" and note your keywords
include "logistic" and "logistics" but not "australia".  In fact most of the
keywords were technical terms rather than day-to-day words like "management"
or "systems".

In fact, your own home page provides a very poor explanation of exactly what
your business does.  Personally I cannot understand the following comment:

"Logistics is the group of disciplines that can take a concept through to the
end product, and then have the means to keep the product performing as
designed."

The website dictionary.com has several definitions of "logistics" as follows:

lo�gis�tics (l-jstks, l-)    n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)
(1)    The aspect of military operations that deals with the procurement,
distribution, maintenance, and replacement of materiel and personnel.
(2)    The management of the details of an operation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
[French logistiques, from logistique, logic (perhaps influenced by loger, to
quarter), from Medieval Latin logisticus, of calculation. See logistic.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: The American Heritage� Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth
Edition Copyright � 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.


logistics \Lo*gis"tics\, n

1. (Mil.) That branch of the military art which embraces the details of moving
and supplying armies. The meaning of the word is by some writers extended to
include strategy. --H. L. Scott.
2. (Math.) A system of arithmetic, in which numbers are expressed in a scale
of 60; logistic arithmetic.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, � 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.


logistics n : handling an operation that involves providing labor and
materials be supplied as needed.
Source: WordNet � 1.6, � 1997 Princeton University


From these sources we can get the following relevant "keywords":

procure procurement
distribute distribution
maintenance
replacement
materiel materials
personnel
military army armies
moving movement
supply
strategy strategic
operation
calculation

You could also add:

methods
techniques
systems
management

Surprisingly, perhaps, your set of keywords does not include very many of
these words.  In fact, I would suggest that, if you want to get attention via
the internet, you should engage a good web designer who could explain
exactly what you do and improve your standing in the search engines.

Best regards
Patrick Corliss
_________________________________________________________
I'm on the Board of auDA (the .au country code) as well as TLDA (the Top
Level Domain Association).   Please note that anything I write is my own
personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect the views of any body
with which I am associated.  Please also note IANAL (I Am Not A Lawyer).