Company Announcement - The 623 applications for capetown city Top-Level Domains received to date by the ZA Central Registry far outstrip the predicted favourite of Joburg  which has seen 297 cTLD applications. The ZACR has received 250 durban cTLD applications. In total, this means that there are currently some 1 170 launch applications for ZAdotCity domain names. However, it's not all doom and gloom 'upcountry', as the Capetonians would say. That's because a staggering 237 dotCapeTown domain name applications have been submitted by just one person, skewing the cTLD stakes.

Three of South Africa's four major banks have applied for a ZAdotCity domain name. There are 32 auctions pending for domain names that have more than one applicant. Most of South Africa's favourite technology brands have applied for all three ZAdotCity domain names. The 1 170 applications for ZAdotCity domain names have been received during the parallel Sunrise and Landrush periods managed by the ZACR. These time periods were designed to protect the rights of trademark holders prior to ZAdotCities domain names becoming available on a first-come, first-served basis from November 2014. This latter period is known as the General Availability phase when intellectual property owners will no longer receive priority when it comes to registering domain names within South Africa's three new city Top-Level Domains.

"From November, any Internet user globally with an affinity for South Africa's three best-known cities will be able to register a South African cTLD, on a first-come, first-served basis," said Lucky Masilela, CEO of the ZA Central Registry. The ZACR operates co.za, web.za, org.za, net.za and now the SA cTLDs. The Landrush period, starting on 1 July 2014, was the first opportunity that the general public had to apply for an Internet domain name using the new dotJoburg, dotCapeTown and dotDurban suffix. This period did not employ the first-come, first-served principle, but instead opened a limited registration period for 120 days, running concurrently with the Sunrise period.

Registration of names from 4 November will follow the usual process where applicants register names through their chosen accredited registrars or resellers. As is normal practice, different registrars will charge different prices due to bundled services they provide in addition to the basic domain name registration service. ZACR has developed a robust trade mark protection system called the Mark Validation System, which can be accessed at www.markvalidation.co.za, in order to assist in mitigating against trade mark abuses. ZACR, a non-profit organisation, was established in 2012 following the renaming of UniForum SA, which had operated co.za since 1995. More information about ZACR is available at www.registry.net.za