What ICANN published on 7 October 2026
On Reveal Day, ICANN made public the applications submitted between 30 April and 12 August 2026. The announced total is 1,615 applications. That figure is a snapshot as of 7 October 2026: it will be confirmed on 17 November 2026, String Confirmation Day.
The list includes 333 brand applications, 16 community-based applications, 15 self-identified geographic names, 51 applications supported by the Applicant Support Program and 21 internationalized domain names. By region, North America accounts for 864 applications and Europe for 506.
What matters: these are applications, not extensions. Nothing is delegated, nothing is on sale, and the announcement sets no delegation date.
What is firm in the announcement
- 1,615 applications — provisional figure as of 7 October 2026, confirmed no later than 17 November 2026.
- Replacement period closed — from 8 October 2026 at 00:01 UTC to 21 October 2026 at 23:59 UTC, for applicants switching strings.
- 17 November 2026 — publication of the final list of strings and of the contention sets.
- 17 November 2026 to 16 March 2027 — community input and objections period.
- 27 November 2026, 23:59 UTC — deadline for withdrawal requests with a 65% refund of the evaluation fee (applicants only).
- ICANN office closure — from 19 December 2026 to 4 January 2027, already built into the timeline: the allotted time is preserved.
- String evaluation — expected to last 180 days, with no published start or end date.
Calendar: the dates to note, and the ones that are missing
The table below lists only the milestones ICANN has dated or has explicitly left undated. A row marked "not published" must not be replaced with an estimate.
Deadlines of the 2026 round
Scroll the table
| Step | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Applications revealed | 7 October 2026 | Past |
| Replacement period | 8 to 21 October 2026 | Closed |
| String confirmation | 17 November 2026 | Firm |
| Withdrawal with 65% refund (applicants) | Before 27 November 2026, 23:59 UTC | Firm |
| Comments and objections | 17 November 2026 to 16 March 2027 | Firm |
| ICANN office closure | 19 December 2026 to 4 January 2027 | Firm |
| Prioritization draw | First half of 2027, date to be set | Undated |
| String evaluation results | Not published | Undated |
| Sunrise, TMCH, opening to registration | Not published | Undated |
This table supports three readings. First, only one window is both firm and useful to a trademark owner: comments and objections, which lasts nearly four months. Second, the year-end closure shortens nothing: it was built into the calendar. Third, everything touching opening to the public stays undated, and a launch calendar found elsewhere does not come from ICANN.
What has no date: sunrise, TMCH, delegation
ICANN's announcement gives no delegation date, no sunrise period date and no date tied to the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH), the database where a trademark is recorded so it is recognised when extensions launch. The prioritization draw, which sets the processing order, is announced for the first half of 2027 on a date to be determined, and the start dates for applicant evaluation and contention resolution are not yet published.
ICANN does publish TMCH requirements for this round, but the text consulted is a working version subject to revision; no sunrise or claims period length is therefore repeated here. Until an extension is delegated there is nothing to pre-register, and any "reservation" offer is a commercial waiting list with no legal value.
A practical path for a trademark owner
Note the two dates that matter
17 November 2026 opens the comments and objections period, 16 March 2027 closes it. Put both in the legal team's calendar, with an alert one month before the close.
Check the final list of strings
On 17 November 2026, ICANN publishes the final list of applied-for strings. Search for your exact brand name, its variants, its translations and your product names.
Qualify each match
A string identical to your brand and applied for by a third party is not the same situation as a similar string or a dictionary word. Note the applicant, the stated use and the rights you hold in the relevant jurisdictions.
Gather evidence of your rights
Trademark registration certificates, dates of first use, evidence of reputation. A rights-based objection is judged on the documents: better to have them before the last week.
Choose between a comment and an objection
A public comment on the application costs little and may be enough to raise the alert. A formal objection goes through a dispute resolution provider, with filing fees and advance payments. Ask an intellectual property counsel before taking this route.
Monitor the rest of the calendar
After 16 March 2027, the following milestones (evaluation results, priority draw, sunrise) have no date. Keep a monthly watch on ICANN announcements rather than an invented schedule.
The objection: four grounds, two providers
According to WIPO's FAQ, an objection may be filed only on one of four grounds: string confusion, legal rights, limited public interest and community. String confusion targets a string close to an existing extension or to another application. Legal rights is the route of a trademark owner who considers that an application infringes its existing rights. Limited public interest concerns norms of morality and public order recognised under international law. The community ground targets an application that targets or harms a clearly delineated community.
WIPO handles string confusion and legal rights objections; the International Chamber of Commerce handles limited public interest and community objections. Each ground has its own standing conditions, evidence rules and procedure, detailed in the Applicant Guidebook. Fee amounts are not repeated here: they depend on each provider's rules.
Do not reserve an extension that does not exist
None of the 1,615 strings is delegated, and no opening date is published. A provider selling you a "pre-reservation" today is selling a place in a private queue. The only dated step that protects your brand is, where relevant, the objection before 16 March 2027.
"It does not concern me" or "I must reserve everything": neither
If your brand appears in no application, the useful action stops at rereading the final list on 17 November 2026. You have nothing to object to, nothing to buy, and no extra urgency.
If an application targets you, the only real urgency is the objection window. Sunrise, the claims period and opening to registration will come later, with no published date: preparing for them means keeping your trademark file up to date, not buying anything today.
In both cases, your immediate exposure sits on the extensions that exist: a free brand name on a common extension is far more exposed than an extension with no launch date.
For an agency: watching the list on behalf of clients
An agency managing a portfolio of brands can turn this list into a recurring check: one table per client with its brands, variants and product names, compared with the final list of 17 November 2026, then with any additions. The result fits in one line per client: no match, match to qualify, or objection to study.
The benefit is deciding early: an objection file takes weeks to prepare. The ICANN calendar does not move: the close remains 16 March 2027, and the year-end closure has already been taken into account in that period.
The official documentation
ICANN announcement of 7 October 2026: https://www.icann.org/en/announcements/details/icann-reveals-2026-round-applications-for-new-generic-top-level-domains-07-10-2026-en
New gTLD Program page: https://newgtldprogram.icann.org/en/node/13
WIPO FAQ on objections: https://www.wipo.int/documents/d/amc/docs-en-domains-wipo-new-gtld-objections-faq.pdf
The dates above are those of the 7 October 2026 announcement. Reread it before any decision: ICANN has said it will publish the remaining milestones later.
