The South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law (SAIIPL) is one of the accredited dispute resolution providers that adjudicate on co.za (South African commercial Top Level Domain) domain name disputes.
Since June 2007 there have been 24 decisions, which seem to be fairly consistent with the decisions from WIPO and the National Arbitration Forum. To view the decisions visit http://www.domaindisputes.co.za/content.php?tag=6.
There are currently more than 466 000 co.za domain names which are registered on a "first come, first served" basis making it a prime "new" target for cybersquatters and typosquatters (domain name profiteers) to expand their business of online infringements. See some of the examples we found: http://www.facebook.co.za/ (whois) and kawasaki.co.za (whois).
As the popular domain extensions become more saturated with domain name profiteers, the infringements will move to domain name markets such as co.za increasing the number of cases that will be brought before the SAIIPL or similar dispute resolution providers.
A defensive domain name registration is the best option for trade mark owners to ensure brand protection within the open and unrestricted TLDs.
To check the availability of your brand / trade mark search the co.za whois at http://www.lexsynergy.com/.
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