Online Brand Protection

This section briefly describes the major requirements that applicants are supposed to fulfill to apply for a new gTLD.
Please remember that the rules and processes described below are not definitive and that the third and final version of the Application Guidebook is expected to be published and released no sooner than late 2009. The second version of the Applicant Guidebook was published by ICANN in February 2009 and is available here.

Who will be eligible to apply for a .brand domain?
Any established corporation, organization, or institution in good standing may apply for a new gTLD. Applications from individuals or sole proprietorships will not be considered.

How shall I submit my application?
It will only be possible to submit applications electronically via the dedicated online system available on the official ICANN website (TAS- ICANN TLD Application System).
The application will need to specify whether an open or community based domain is being applied for, where the latter represents a domain name registered for the benefit of a defined community consisting of a restricted population.

What kind of documentation will I be required to submit?
Each of this applicant groups will be required to present:

• Proof of legal establishment
• Proof of good standing and financial statement
• Documentary evidence of ability to fund ongoing basic registry operations for then-existing registrants for a period of three to five years in the event of registry failure, default or until a successor operator can be designated.
• Documentary evidence of ability of the domain name to be inserted into the DNS system without jeopardising its stability

Will it be possible to file an objection to an applied for domain name?
Shortly after the end of the first application submission phase, ICANN will publish on its website a complete list of the applications that will then be eligible to enter assessment phase II. From this moment on, anyone will be eligible to file an objection to an applied for domain name for any of the reasons listed below:

1. String Confusion Objection – The applied-for gTLD string is confusingly similar to an existing TLD or to another applied for gTLD string.
   
2. Legal Rights Objection – The applied-for gTLD string infringes existing legal rights of the objector.
   
3. Morality and Public Order Objection – The applied-for gTLD
4. Community Objection – There is substantial opposition to the gTLD application from a significant portion of the community to which the gTLD string may be explicitly or implicitly targeted.
   

How are dispute cases going to be managed?
In case an applied for domain name was objected to by a third party, the dispute will be settled through three independent bodies nominated by ICANN specifically for this purpose: The Arbitration and Mediation Center of the World Intellectual Property Organization, The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and The International Centre for Dispute Resolutin (ICDR).

If you wish any further information, please visit the FAQ section of our website dedicated to this topic. Else, please contact us by submitting the form below.