The legal contest between United States-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and DotConnectAfrica Trust (DCA Trust), the Africa-based promoter of the Yes2DotAfrica Campaign and principal applicant for the .Africa internet new generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) extension, is set to continue following the latest finding by a US judge presiding over the case.

Judge Howard Halm, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge who heard the legal dispute concerning the delegation rights of the .Africa new gTLD registry, has decided that the case can go ahead. This is after ICANN filed a Motion for Summary Judgment (MSJ) requesting a dismissal of all the causes of action put forward by DCA which is the plaintiff in the matter.

"The Court finds DCA raises a triable question of material fact as to whether ICANN committed fraud by indicating it would follow its bylaws and articles of incorporation and the IRP's decision in processing application. DCA points to evidence that ICANN subjected DCA to an extra set of questioning regarding its endorsements, and denied its application based on the pretextual reason that its responses to this questioning were insufficient."

ICANN had submitted the request for an MSJ to the court in May 2017. The same Court had previously denied the Motion for Preliminary Injunction (PI) that DCA Trust had filed to stop the ICANN from delegating the .Africa new gTLD registry to ZA Central Registry (ZACR) which is an intervening party in the lawsuit with interest in acquiring delegation rights for the .Africa string name.

"The Court cannot, therefore, find as a matter of law that ICANN did not defraud DCA by stating on the one hand it would follow its Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation in processing DCA's application, while on the other hand giving preference to ZACR's application throughout the process," stated Judge Halm in the latest court decision.

The Court granted ICANN the MSJ on other causes of action that are unrelated to fraud or wilful injury, although it accepted that allegations of fraud or wilful injury were not barred by the waiver not to sue, and can be therefore be regarded as 'triable issues'.

The legal battle between DCA and ICANN on the delegation of the rights to .Africa dates back to January 2016.

The latest Internet Society (ISOC) Global Internet Report released yesterday identifies the management of domain name systems as a key principle for work in the internet sector.

According to the Report, "The internet enables sharing, learning and collaboration. The ability to share has given rise to the open development of the key components of the Internet, such as the Domain Name System (DNS) and the World Wide Web."

ISOC collaborates with ZACR, which launched the .Africa domain in July this year on several projects including the SA content and development & translation project.