Doug Isenberg of The GigaLaw Firm has been appointed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as a panelist to consider objections filed pursuant to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ (ICANN’s) 2026 New gTLD (generic top-level domain) Program.
Specifically, WIPO has included Isenberg on its roster of panelists eligible to decide disputes filed under two procedures:
Legal Rights Objections allow all rights holders to file objections against new gTLD applications if they believe that an applied-for string “infringes their existing legal rights.”
String Confusion Objections allow existing gTLD and ccTLD operators, as well as applicants for new gTLDs, to file objections against new gTLD applications if they believe that an applied-for string is “similar visually, aurally, or in meaning” to an existing gTLD or applied-for string.
Isenberg, a panelist for all five ICANN-approved service providers under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), served as a panelist in the 2012 round of new gTLD applications. He also represented applicants and objectors in the 2012 round.
ICANN recently reported that 1,616 applications for new gTLDs will proceed in the 2026 program and that it expects to publish the list of applied-for strings no later than October 14, 2026, at which time it will also include timelines for filing objections.
