Konga To Sue "Jumia" For Domain Squatting

Representatives from Konga.com have informed TechCabal that they will soon bring legal proceedings against Rocket Internet, over Konga domain names registered by the German internet company in at least ten countries.

The domains in question are in: Cote D’ivoire – Konga.cd, Cameroun – Konga.cm, Lybia – Konga.ly, Mauritius – Konga.mu, Morocco – Konga.ma, Malawi – Konga.mw, Konga.sc – Seychelles, Konga.sh – Saint Helena, Kenya – Konga.co.ke, South Africa – Konga.co.za.

Whois information indicates that all the domains were registered in June, 2012 by one Arnt Jeschke on behalf of Rocket Internet GmbH in Berlin. The date is interesting because while the twin ecommerce companies that would later become Jumia had already launched by then, Konga would not launch until July.

Rocket snapping up ten Konga domains across Africa just one month before the launch of an ecommerce brand that would compete with one of their subsidiaries will obviously be interpreted as a preemptive strike to contain a business threat. Konga, which has eventually risen to become Jumia’s biggest and fiercest competition, hasn’t demonstrated any overt international ambition yet. But if they wanted to set up shop in, say Kenya, Rocket Internet has effectively deprived them of the benefit of domain localisation.

Since 2012, both companies have been locked in a cold war, with email for ammunition, and domain names as bargaining chips. According to Konga, talks with Rocket management to retrieve the names have ended in a long-running stalemate.

In January 2013, TechLoy reported that in a retaliatory move, jumai.com.ng was registered and redirected to Konga.com. Google Instant previews revealed then that it was common for people to misspell Jumia as “Jumai”, thus the rationale for the typo-squatting tactic. A spokesperson for Konga described the incident as ill-thought unilateral action that has since been reversed — the domain no longer redirects to Konga.com.