Start-ups now have greater control over their intellectual property (IP) as collaboration between the Companies & Intellectual Properties Commission (CIPC), the ZA Domain Name Authority (ZADNA) and the ZA Central Registry NPC (ZACR) makes it possible to register a new company and its equivalent co.za domain name at the same time.
Lucky Masilela, ZACR CEO, says the tripartite arrangement enables new enterprises to benefit by protecting their fledgling online identities. “This innovative offering seamlessly combines the offline and online worlds in a way that provides total convenience and protection for start-ups.”
In terms of this model, the CIPC Registrar has limited functionality and simply acts as a conduit to the co.za domain name registration platform. The CIPC Registrar does not enjoy all the capabilities of the normal.ZA-accredited commercial domain name RaR (Reseller and Registrar) and does not derive any financial benefit for facilitating such registrations.
“Nor will the CIPC Registrar compete with existing RaRs,” says Masilela. “The initial co.za domain name registration with CIPC is for a limited one-year period only and registrants are expected to pay the same domain name price that is charged to all our other accredited co.za registrars.
“CIPC-registered co.za domain names will need to be transferred to commercial domain name RaR’s to enable full functionality and renewal,” Masilela explains.
Additional support, renewal of domain names and hosting services can only be purchased from the greater community of accredited RaRs.
Established in terms of South Africa’s ECT Act, ZADNA regulates South Africa’s country code Top Level Domain names (ccTLDs), .za.
ZACR administer such domains as .co.za, the three cities’ geographic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) of .joburg (‘dotJoburg’), .capetown (‘dotCapeTown’) and .durban(‘dotDurban’), as well as the .africa (dotAfrica) gTLD, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Registry Africa.
CIPC manages the registration and maintenance of companies, co-operatives and protection of intellectual property rights.
“This is a fantastic example of domain name space pioneering coupled with out-the-box thinking in the area of public-private partnerships,” Masilela says.
Users can visit https://eservices.cipc.co.za/ to register company names and domain names.
