New top-level domains: TMCH, Sunrise and trademark protection

ICANN is preparing a new round of top-level domains. For a trademark owner this means two risks: someone registers your name in a new zone before you do, or applies for a zone that matches your mark. The Trademark Clearinghouse and the Sunrise period give the mark owner priority in the zones that hold a Sunrise — if the mark is recorded in time.

What people come to us with

• you want to secure the brand name in the new zones before general availability
• it is unclear whether your mark qualifies for the Trademark Clearinghouse
• someone has applied for a zone that matches your mark
• your mark has been registered in a new zone, and the site has to be stopped quickly
• you have several marks and markets, and need to decide what to record and where

How we work

1. Checking the mark. The The Clearinghouse accepts registered marks whose text can be written as a domain (word marks and combined marks with text), as well as court-validated marks and marks protected by statute or treaty; we check the certificate, the spelling and the proof of use.
2. Recording in the Trademark Clearinghouse. We file the mark and the proof of use. The record is paid annually and renewed for as long as you need it.
3. Choosing the zones. Out of hundreds of new zones we pick 3–5 that really matter for your market. Monitoring covers the rest.
4. Sunrise. We apply for the name in the priority period, before general availability in each chosen zone.
5. Claims. For at least 90 days after a zone opens, the Clearinghouse warns anyone registering a matching name and notifies you of such a registration; after that — optionally — you only receive notices of new registrations, with no warning to the registrant. We assess each one and tell you whether it is worth acting on.
6. URS, if needed. Against a domain in a new zone that clearly infringes the mark, we file a URS complaint — a fast procedure that suspends the domain. If you need the domain itself, that is UDRP.

What the Trademark Clearinghouse gives you

• priority in the Sunrise of the new zones that hold one — the name can be registered before general availability; .brand zones may skip Sunrise, a registry may set its own conditions, and the record alone does not guarantee the name
• Claims notices — for at least 90 days after a zone opens, whoever registers a matching name sees a warning about your mark, and you are notified of the registration
• proof of use of the mark for URS, which would otherwise have to be gathered separately
• what it does not give: the Clearinghouse does not block registrations and does not decide disputes — it is a database of records, not an arbiter

What matters

Most new zones are of no use to you. A defensive registration in each of them costs more than one dispute, so we recommend a Clearinghouse record, 3–5 zones and monitoring of the rest, not domains kept just in case.

As of October 2026: ICANN closed the application window for new zones on 12 August 2026, with more than 1,600 applications filed. The list of applied-for zones (Reveal Day) is published about nine weeks after the close, in autumn 2026; the Sunrise and Claims periods begin in 2027. There is time to record the mark, but less than it seems.

The Trademark Clearinghouse fee — $155 per record per year (Clearinghouse pricing). This is a third-party fee and is not part of our fee.

URS is a procedure for clear-cut infringements in the new zones; the providers are FORUM, ADNDRC and MFSD (the ICANN rules). The standard of proof is higher than in UDRP; the complaint is up to 500 words; the registry locks the domain within 24 hours; the registrant has 14 days to respond; the decision comes within three working days of the start of the examination. The outcome is only suspension of the domain until the end of its registration term (for one more year on request), not a transfer. The provider's fee is paid separately.

If someone has applied for a zone itself that matches your mark, a Legal Rights Objection is filed against the application with the WIPO Center. The objection window opens after the applications are published and is short, so tell us about such a zone at once.

Send the name of the mark, the certificate number and the markets where you operate in a request — we will tell you whether the mark qualifies for the Clearinghouse and which zones are worth taking.