On October 7, 2026, ICANN, the nonprofit that coordinates the internet's naming system, published every application in its 2026 round for new top-level domains. That's the part after the dot. There were 1,615 applications, and ICANN counted 333 of them as brand applications. The application window ran from April 30 to August 12, 2026. One came from TAS Rights Management, LLC, which lists taylorswift.com as its website, for .TAYLORSWIFT.
We covered Swift's trademark filings in an earlier post. This is the domain-name side of the same idea: owning your name in more places. Here's what the application actually says, and the rule any creator can use when someone else grabs a domain built on their name.
Takeaway #1: A dotBrand is a private address book
FROM THE APPLICATION
"We intend to operate the .TAYLORSWIFT TLD as a dotBrand TLD where all domain registrations will be restricted to Affiliate organizations (as defined in the Registry Agreement) and, potentially, to licensees of our trademarks."
What it means for you. If approved, fans couldn't buy a name ending in .TAYLORSWIFT. Only the applicant's affiliates, and maybe its trademark licensees, could. The application says it will use "a strict registration approval process." This is standard dotBrand language, so read it as what the application says, not something Swift said.
It's also not done. ICANN's timeline runs a replacement period through October 21, String Confirmation Day on November 17, then a Community Input and Objections Period from November 17, 2026 to March 16, 2027. Nothing here is approved, and ICANN calls its counts a snapshot to be confirmed on String Confirmation Day.
For most creators, a dotBrand isn't the move; it's a large-company program with a long evaluation. The useful lesson is the instinct behind it: control the places your name points to.
Your move. Creators: register the .com and the obvious variants of your name and brand now, keep them renewed on auto-pay, and put them in your company's name, not an assistant's.
Takeaway #2: Getting a squatted domain back
FROM THE RULE
"(i) your domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights; and (ii) you have no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and (iii) your domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith. In the administrative proceeding, the complainant must prove that each of these three elements are present."
What it means for you. If someone registers yourname.com to sell knockoffs or to sell the domain back to you, the UDRP is the fast route. It's an arbitration-style proceeding written into domain registration agreements. You need all three elements. Your rights in a mark come first, and the policy speaks of a mark "in which the complainant has rights," so a strong unregistered mark can work, though a registration makes it easier to prove. One catch: your name counts only if you've used it as a brand for goods or services. WIPO's panel guide says "merely having a famous name" isn't enough.
The policy lists bad-faith examples, including registering "primarily for the purpose of selling" the domain to the mark owner "for valuable consideration in excess of your documented out-of-pocket costs." The remedies are narrow: "cancellation of your domain name or the transfer of your domain name registration to the complainant." No money damages, and the result is public: "All decisions under this Policy will be published in full over the Internet," with rare redactions. The most common creator scenario is another listed example: "by using the domain name, you have intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to your web site or other on-line location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the complainant's mark." Think a fake merch store at yourname-shop.com. And the devil is in the details: a genuine noncommercial fan site may have "legitimate interests," and the UDRP doesn't reach social-media handles. Those run on each platform's own rules.
Your move. Before you file, screenshot the site, save the WHOIS record and any offer to sell, and line up proof of your mark. File the trademark first if you haven't; it makes element one simple.
And always remember, don't sign it till you read it, my friends.
General information, not legal advice. Reading this doesn't create an attorney-client relationship. Talk to a lawyer about your own name and marks.
