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String Confusion Objections under ICANN’s New gTLD Program

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The WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center was appointed by ICANN as the exclusive provider of dispute resolution services for "pre-delegation" String Confusion Objections (SCOs) under ICANN’s New gTLD Program. SCOs concern confusion with existing TLDs and/or another applied-for gTLD strings and/or any of its allocatable or blocked variant strings.

As part of the continued evolution of the Internet’s domain name system, ICANN is launching the next round of New generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs). The 2026 Round is expected to open for applications from April to August 2026, with Objections following in Q4 2026.

In this regard, ICANN published the New gTLD Program: 2026 Round Applicant Guidebook providing a detailed roadmap from application to evaluation, objection, and approval.

Next Steps for Applicants and Rightsholders:

More information about objection procedures, including timelines and resources, will be made available as ICANN finalizes the details of the upcoming application round.  WIPO will also publish detailed guidelines and case resources. Further, WIPO will host a webinar in March 2026 with a recording provided in the below resources (additional information will be provided in the preceding month).

Interested parties can monitor updates here and on ICANN’s New gTLD Program site.



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String Confusion Objection Resources

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String Confusion Appeal Resources

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String Confusion Objection Cases

Proposed string to which the objection is directed Objector Applicant Grounds for objection Date of the WIPO Center’s receipt of the objection Quick Look Review Determination
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String Confusion Appeal Cases

Proposed string to which the appeal is directed Appellant Respondent Objection Determination Grounds for the appeal Date of the WIPO’s receipt of the appeal Quick Look Review Determination
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Contact

WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center Geneva
34, chemin des Colombettes
1211 Geneva 20
Switzerland

T +41 22 338 8247
E sco@wipo.int

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