New regulations aim to resolve disputes
Publish date: 09 May 2007
Issue Number: 1182
Diary: Legalbrief eLaw
Category: Domains
The .za Domain Name Authority the organisation that oversees all the SA domain names on the Internet has announced a formal, regulated process that aims to provide an inexpensive, fast and easy way to resolve domain name disputes without the need to employ a lawyer.
The process utilises new regulations signed into power by the Minister of Communications, Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, on 22 November 2006, called \'The Alternative Dispute Resolution Regulations\'. Prior to the new regulations, many SA domain name disputes were left unresolved, due to the lack of a regulated process. The new process, which is, in essence, a \'domain name claims court\', aims to reduce the amount of time and money spent on lodging a formal dispute in the courts over a domain name. If people or businesses find that somebody has taken their domain names or registered an abusive domain name, the new regulations allow for a complaint to be lodged with independent adjudicators. Press release on the Legalbrief site
