Trademark holders first to register as internet domain .africa set to launch
ZA Central Registry — which is responsible for the approval of South African domain names — will administer the .africa name
Trademark holders who want new internet website addresses ending with .africa are urged to register their trademarks from Monday to prevent the unauthorised use of their names. This comes after the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers (Icann) won a long legal battle against .DotConnect Africa Trust (DCA), paving the way for the rollout of the .africa domain name. The launch of .africa also comes six years after Icann, an internet body that oversees domain names, opened the internet top-level domain names beyond .com, .net and .org. Companies and individuals are now able to register website addresses ending with .food, .music and city names. Icann has appointed local nonprofit organisation ZA Central Registry (ZACR) — which is responsible for the approval of South African domain names — to administer the .africa domain name. ZACR CEO Lucky Masilela said "the delegation of dotAfrica to ZACR has ensured the online economic journey of the continent will finally be realised"...
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