Region: Africa & Middle East

The UAE Network Information Centre has introduced major changes to the legal framework for domain name registration and dispute resolution. Local courts will have a bigger role in settling disputes relating to '.ae' domain names, with WIPO arbitration as an alternative.

28 May 2002

The South African government has won the right to register 'southafrica.info' after taking advantage of ICANN's decision last month to make '.info' country names available to the relevant country's government and public authorities.

03 May 2002

A bill is before Parliament that, if enacted, will make the government responsible for administering the '.za' domain. Critics fear that government employees with insufficient technical expertise will be given too much authority, and not enough resources will be allocated to the development of the namespace.

19 March 2002

South African Airways has threatened to take a disgruntled passenger to court after he built a website called 'NeverflySAA.com' to vent his anger about the airline's allegedly poor service. The South African courts have yet to address the issue of protest sites. Perhaps the airline would be better off having the dispute settled under ICANN's UDRP.

06 March 2002

Leading local internet players have formed a new company - NameSpace - to oversee the allocation and administration of domain names in South Africa. The firm beat plans by the Communications Department, which is now drafting a bill that would transfer administration to a public-private partnership.

24 October 2001

The District Court of Tel Aviv has relied on tort law to rule againsta cybersquatter, Discopy Ltd, which had registered domain names identical to those of its competitor Magnetics Ltd.

19 June 2001