The launch of ‘.africa’

10 Jul 2017

The launch of the .africa domain extension has been well-received and has just entered the General Availability Phase. During this phase, any individual may apply to register any available domain name.

Brand owners should, however, be cautioned that, even during general availability, certain domain names are classified by the ZA Central Registry as “premium” and will, therefore, be more expensive to register. The premium domain name list has not been made available to the public and we will have to find out for you if a domain name that you are interested in is classified as premium. As a general rule, 2-3 character domain names and generic domain names such as “game.africa”, and “smart.africa” for example, are designated as premium domain names and are only registrable at a premium price.

If you are interested in registering your trade marks in the .africa extension, please contact your usual contact at Adams & Adams as soon as possible for further assistance.

(This article is provided for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. For more information on the topic, please contact the author/s or the relevant provider.)