ICANN’s New Generic Top-Level Domain Applications Revealed

INTA is closely following the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)’s new generic top-level domain (gTLD) round on behalf of brand owners, and the Technology Transformation Committee is tracking each stage that affects the INTA community

It entered its application disclosure and review phase with Reveal Day on October 7, 2026. The next stages will determine which applications proceed, how contention is resolved, and when INTA members can comment, object, or prepare defensive registrations.

• Reveal Day results: ICANN published preliminary applicant, applied-for string (the proposed new top-level domain), alternative-string, and public application information, alongside a downloadable list of contention sets, that is, groups of applications that are competing for the same or potentially conflicting new top-level domains. The published highlights included 1,615 applications, 986 unique strings, and 263 contention sets.
• Brand application landscape: The round includes 333 self-identified dotBrand applications from 56 countries. Several companies submitted multiple applications, including Google with 20, OpenAI Opco, LLC with 15, Meta with 12, ByteDance with nine, Amazon with eight, and Inditex with eight.
• Immediate applicant deadlines: Applicants in contention who proposed alternative strings had a 14-day period to switch to an unconflicted replacement string, ending October 21, 2026. ICANN will confirm the revised applications and contention sets on November 17, 2026, and the number of unique strings may increase.
• Comment and notification periods: From November 17, 2026, to December 17, 2026, anyone can notify ICANN about singular and plural strings, supported by dictionary evidence. From November 17, 2026, to March 16, 2027, application comments, ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) Early Warnings or Advice, and other community input opportunities will run for 104 days.
• Objection options: Eligible parties may file objections on Legal Rights, Limited Public Interest, String Confusion, or Community grounds. For most non-applicant brand owners, Legal Rights Objections are expected to be the primary route, although Public Interest Objections may also be relevant; later brand-string changes or contention-set updates can trigger additional 30-day objection periods.
• What should INTA members do? Brand owners should consider the following: reviewing the current and alternative strings for matches or confusing similarities, calendaring the relevant notification and objection periods, evaluating comment and objection options, and planning for defensive domain-name registrations. The applications are unlikely to launch before early 2028, but registration strategies and budgets should be considered in advance.

The right to resolve string contention through private auctions has been eliminated for this round, meaning auctions will be administered by ICANN. INTA opposed this new limitation during the drafting of the Applicant Guidebook. ICANN introduced the limitation to discourage applicants from gaming the system where costs are awarded to losing parties. However, the known incidents of this tactic represented a small percentage of the 1,900-plus applications that were filed in 2012. INTA is closely following the issue and will assess the impact on its members moving forward.

The Technology Transformation Committee is monitoring the progress of the application cycle and will inform the INTA community of notable issues and impacts on property owners.

Although every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of this article, readers are urged to check independently on matters of specific concern or interest.

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