Guide
.brand: When Your Trademark Becomes the Domain
What if your brand wasn't before the dot, but was the dot? That is a .brand TLD.
What it is
A .brand top-level domain lets a company use its own brand name as the part of the address after the last dot — shop.nike instead of nike.com. According to ICANN's New gTLD Program, a .brand TLD is reserved to a single trademark holder: only the brand owner, its affiliates and its licensees can register names under it.
How it differs from gTLDs and ccTLDs
ccTLDs (.ch, .de, .fr) belong to a country or territory and open to anyone.
gTLDs (.com, .org, .net) are generic and open to anyone.
.brand is technically a gTLD — but a closed one. Nobody outside the brand can register in it.
Who has one
ICANN's own April 2026 announcement cites .microsoft and .sky; other live examples include .google, .bmw, .audi, .barclays and .leclerc. In the 2012 round, roughly a third of all applications were .brands.
Who can apply
A .Brand TLD applicant (e.g., organization) must:
- Answer specific application questions with respect to its dot brand status; and
- Submit one or more Signed Mark Data (SMD) files from the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) to prove that its brand name is a registered trademark.
Find out more about requirements here.
Prior to submitting an application, a .Brand TLD applicant must have valid SMD file(s) covering the exact brand name the applicant wants to use as a TLD.
The advantages
You own the whole namespace. That means tighter security and trust (a domain no impostor can register), no cybersquatting to chase, and the freedom to spin up login.brand or france.brand on demand — no name is ever "already taken."
The drawbacks
Cost. The barrier is steep: ICANN has set the base application fee at USD 227,000 per application (ICANN New gTLD Program), before back-end registry operation, advisers and ongoing fees.
It locks you in. A .brand is tied to your registered trademark. If you ever rebrand, the TLD doesn't move with you - and the substantial investment behind it is largely lost. Rebranding becomes that much more expensive.
Rare windows. Application rounds open roughly once a decade, so it is effectively now-or-wait.
The 2026 timeline
30 April 2026 — the application window opens.
12 August 2026 — it closes.
19 August 2026 — the USD 227,000 fee falls due.
November 2026 ("Reveal Day") — ICANN publishes every qualifying application. Where two applicants chose the same string, anyone who filed a backup name can switch to it to sidestep the clash.
Late 2026 to mid-2030 — the long road to launch. Most of ICANN's 400-plus-page guidebook governs this stretch: third parties can object to strings that infringe their rights, rival applicants for the same string can settle it by auction, registry agreements are signed, and approved .brands are expected to go live around June 2030.
The bottom line
A .brand turns your trademark into digital territory you fully control — powerful for large, established brands, but a serious commitment in cost and permanence. It rewards brands that are sure of their name, and punishes those that might want to change it.