Lesley Stones
21 June 2001
Johannesburg — Government has won the first round of a legal battle to gain control of the internet address southafrica.com, after a New York court declared itself powerless to adjudicate the issue.
Government is trying to wrest control of the domain name from Virtual Countries, a US-based company that has registered 33 names of countries including russia.com and newzealand.com. A New York judge ruled that the dispute must be settled by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo).
The verdict has been welcomed by Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe- Casaburri, who had intended to take the case to Wipo several months ago.
But the move was blocked by Virtual Countries when it sought an interdict to prevent Wipo from hearing the case and submitted documents to show why it believed it had the right to own the name.
Yesterday Robert Nkuna, the minister's media liaison officer, said the court had ruled in favour of government and dismissed the application for an interdict. The court ruled that it lacked the jurisdiction to hear a case involving a foreign sovereign state.
"Now we can take the case to Wipo, which is what we always wanted to do," said Nkuna.
However, a legal expert warns that government may lose the clash since Virtual Countries is putting the southafrica.com name to good use.
"Virtual Countries has been using the name for more than five years and I am sure that it can show it was not registered in bad faith," said Pamela Stein, a director of Cheadle, Thompson & Haysom attorneys.
The website displays images of Africa, and offers membership of an SA club and a guide to tourist attractions, as well as travel tips and maps in English and Afrikaans.
Stein said there was inadequate protection to prevent private companies from registering geographical names as internet addresses.
"There will have to be some regulation over the use of sovereign names because it is sad to think that southafrica.com isn't owned by anybody in SA," Stein said.
Matsepe-Casaburri said other countries whose names had been hijacked saw SA's fight as a bold step. "Governments in all countries should have the final say in the use of that country's name."
Many country names had been registered by speculators intent on selling them to the rightful owners once a country recognised the value of its internet address, she said. At one stage, Virtual Countries put southafrica.com up for auction with a reserve price of $5m.
Nkuna said government was optimistic that it would win the case. "Many countries are still behind in the development of ecommerce but that is no justification for the developed world to register our names," he said.
"If that is allowed to happen it will perpetuate the digital divide. We believe Wipo will realise that domain names are central to the growth of e- commerce."
The case will set a precedent for the rest of the world. If a private company with no connection to a geographic area is allowed to register a national, regional or city name, it could trigger a cyber land-grab.
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