Trademark owners have shown great interest in the new .africa geographic Top Level Domain (gTLD). dotAfrica (.africa) is the new generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) for the African continent. The .africa domain scored within the global top 10 for the largest number of domain name reservations during the Sunrise Phase of the launch process. A total of 981 registrations were recorded by trademark owners over the 60 days from 4 April 2017. The ZACR-administered gTLD enjoys the support of the African Union Commission (AUC) and an overwhelming majority of African governments.
What is the Sunrise Period?
Like other Registry Operators, ZACR monitored and measured the number of trademark owners that submitted marks through the global Trade Mark Clearing House (TMCH) and ZACR’s own Mark Validation System (MVS) to ensure protection of priority rights as far as is reasonably possible. The Registry Operator for .africa is the ZA Central Registry Not-for-Profit (ZACR – NPC) trading as Registry Africa. The .africa Sunrise Period prioritised the securing of valuable brand names in the form of registered trademarks. During Sunrise, trademark owners across Africa were encouraged to apply for .africa domain names matching their registered or validated trademarks. The .africa domain is now at the tail end of the second Landrush Phase, meaning .africa registrations are now open to everyone around the world, without any restriction.
For more information on the launch phases, please visit
http://www.registry.africa.