--- id: "brand-protection" kind: "glossary-term" title: "brand protection" language: "en" category: "Rights protection and disputes" updated: "2026-10-10T10:28:55Z" canonical: "https://tldlog.com/glossary/brand-protection/" translations: es: "https://tldlog.com/es/glosario/proteccion-marca/" de: "https://tldlog.com/de/glossar/markenschutz/" fr: "https://tldlog.com/fr/glossaire/protection-marque/" it: "https://tldlog.com/it/glossario/protezione-marchio/" pt-BR: "https://tldlog.com/pt/glossario/protecao-marca/" ru: "https://tldlog.com/ru/glossariy/zashchita-brenda/" zh-Hans: "https://tldlog.com/zh/cihui/pinpai-baohu/" --- # brand protection The work of keeping a brand safe from misuse in domain names. It includes registering key names, blocking others, watching for look-alike registrations and acting against abuse through disputes or takedowns. Corporate registrars and specialist firms sell it as a service. Brand protection is the work of keeping a brand from being misused in domain names. Almost any free name can be registered cheaply by whoever asks first, so brand owners combine several tools. It is a plan, not a single product. ## What domain brand protection is Most programs combine four activities: registering key names, including defensive registrations; blocking names through registry services; monitoring new registrations for names that resemble the mark; and enforcing, with a takedown request, the URS or the UDRP. The WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center handled over 6,200 domain name cases in 2025, its highest caseload on record (as of October 2026). New gTLDs also have a built-in layer. The TMCH holds verified trademark data used for two services: sunrise, which gives trademark holders priority registration for at least 30 days (60 for an End-Date Sunrise), and trademark claims, which warns applicants for at least the first 90 days of general registration (as of October 2026). A claims notice does not stop the registration: the applicant may go ahead, and the trademark holder is then told. ## Defensive registrations: when they make sense A defensive registration is an ordinary domain registration, renewed every year, kept so that nobody else can have it. The owner holds the name and can point it at the real website, but pays one renewal fee per name per year, so the bill grows with every name added. Brand owners commonly register their main name in the TLDs their customers use, and the obvious typos of their mark. Typos matter in disputes: according to the WIPO Overview 3.1, UDRP panels treat a common or intentional misspelling of a mark as confusingly similar to it, and registering typo names of a well-known mark can by itself create a presumption of bad faith. ## Blocking services across many TLDs With a block, the registry withholds the label from registration: the name is not registered to anyone and cannot be activated in the DNS, so it does not resolve. The base Registry Agreement allows registries to reserve or block names, and the blocking services described here were approved by ICANN through the RSEP. As of October 2026, ICANN's list shows 74 approved requests for a "Label Blocking Service" and 12 for DPML; one request can cover one TLD or dozens. The programs the glossary names, as described in their ICANN filings (as of October 2026): - **DPML (Domains Protected Marks List).** Identity Digital's service, run since 2013. One subscription blocks exact matches, names containing the match and, in some cases, misspellings across the TLDs on its back end, for 1 to 10 years. - **AdultBlock.** ICM Registry's service for .xxx, .porn, .sex and .adult, for 1 to 10 years. The basic block covers exact matches; the Plus tier also covers confusingly similar variants. - **GlobalBlock.** A multi-registry service whose terms do not appear in ICANN's registry service records. Blocks have limits. They cover only the TLDs of the registries in the program. They do not take back names already registered. Another holder of the same trademark may be able to unblock a label and register it. A block that lapses frees the name. Some registries also accept an unregistered trademark, a company name or a celebrity name, after checking the right. ## Monitoring for new lookalike domains A monitoring service watches newly registered names for the mark, its typos, the mark plus a word, and look-alike characters used in homograph attacks. Much of this rests on public data. Under the Registry Agreement, any internet user can download a gTLD zone file at no cost, at most once every 24 hours, through ICANN's CZDS. Timing matters. Panels do not expect owners to monitor everything permanently, but some delays in filing a UDRP complaint can make a case harder to win. WIPO reports that in 2025 some complainants used the UDRP to stop phishing campaigns. Monitoring only finds names; removing them is a separate step. ## Building a brand protection plan A common order of work is: 1. List the marks and the names that matter. 2. Secure the core names, for example with a registry lock (see the registry lock explainer). 3. Register defensively where the name has to work. 4. Block where a registry program covers many TLDs at once. 5. Record the mark in the TMCH, where relevant, to use sunrise and receive claims notices. 6. Monitor new registrations. 7. Decide in advance how to respond to a find: ignore, watch, request a takedown, or file a URS or UDRP complaint. New TLDs keep arriving. As of October 2026, ICANN's 2026 round has drawn 1,615 applications, 333 of them brand applications, and its objections period runs from 17 November 2026 to 16 March 2027. An example: a company with the trademark EXAMPLE blocks the label "example" in the TLDs of a blocking program, where nobody can then register it. A monitoring alert reports examp1e-login.example; the company checks it for phishing and chooses between a takedown request and a dispute. ## Costs and trade-offs Registries sell blocking services to registrars at a wholesale rate, and each registrar sets its own retail price, so prices are not published in ICANN's records. The trade-offs: - Defensive registrations give a usable name, at one renewal per name every year. - Blocks cover many TLDs in one order, within the limits above. - Monitoring is needed whatever else is done. No registration or block guarantees protection or the outcome of a dispute. Which mix suits a brand depends on its situation; check with a registrar, the registry or a lawyer. ## Sources - [RSEP Process (ICANN)](https://www.icann.org/en/contracted-parties/registry-operators/services/rsep-process) - [Base Registry Agreement - Approved 21 January 2024](https://itp.cdn.icann.org/en/files/registry-agreements/base-registry-agreement-21-01-2024-en.pdf) - [Trademark Clearinghouse Rights Protection Mechanism Requirements](https://newgtlds.icann.org/sites/default/files/rpm-requirements-14may14-en.pdf) - [WIPO Overview of WIPO Panel Views on Selected UDRP Questions](https://www.wipo.int/en/web/amc/domain-name-disputes/overview/index) - [2025 Marks Record-Breaking Year for WIPO Domain Name Disputes](https://www.wipo.int/en/web/amc/w/news-domain-name-disputes/2026/news_0001) ## related terms - [defensive registration](https://tldlog.com/glossary/defensive-registration/) - [blocking service](https://tldlog.com/glossary/blocking-service/) - [domain monitoring](https://tldlog.com/glossary/domain-monitoring/) - [cybersquatting](https://tldlog.com/glossary/cybersquatting/) - [UDRP](https://tldlog.com/glossary/udrp/)