.mark
Is .mark a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.mark is contested: 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are Internet DotTrademark Organisation, Registered Agents and Link Freedom Group.
Who is applying, and what they run today
One of the three already run TLDs, 29K names between them. One runs one of .mark's closest 2012 strings: Internet DotTrademark Organisation .xn--czr694b. Link Freedom Group and Registered Agents run none.
Will names sell?
A generic word ending with scattered meanings; cheap and usable, but few serious projects would make .mark their main address.
Last round the AI scored the 2012 strings blind to their fate. Strings it scored 60 or more hold a median 27,168 names today; those under 30, a median of 30. .mark’s closest 2012 strings hold .xn--czr694b 28K, .trust 56 and .kim 8K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .商标, held 28,298 names, June 2026. .trust held 56; .kim held 8,369. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
It is literally the category noun "trademark" launched as a namespace, the same bet .mark makes: sell the generic word for a brand's identifying sign back to the brand owners and IP counsel who already own one, where value depends entirely on rights-holders treating a TLD as an extension of their mark rather than a place to build.
Same structural bet as a brand-mark play: a short abstract English noun whose worth is conferred rather than descriptive, sold to organizations wanting a namespace that reads as a seal of standing, which only works if the registry polices who may carry it.
Parallel only under the given-name reading of .mark, where the bet is a common personal name run as an open personal-identity registry whose registrants are individuals putting their own name on it, a different buyer and different economics from the trademark reading.
review and ratings sites playing off the tagline's 'give it a mark' sense, people named Mark wanting a vanity address, and small brands using 'mark' as a suffix hack (e.g. book.mark, trade.mark style constructions)
What a .mark domain is
.mark is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Commerce category. 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .mark domain extension real yet?
.mark is not yet a domain extension you can register: nothing resolves under it, and no registrar sells names in it. It is a string applicants have put forward in the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, the process that decides whether it becomes one.
When can you buy a .mark domain?
You can’t yet. A .mark name can only be registered once the string is delegated (added to the DNS root) and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .mark was .商标, delegated on 22 May 2014.
Is .mark a real TLD?
Not yet. .mark is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .mark is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Internet DotTrademark Organisation · first recordedICANN
- 2 applicants · now confirmedICANN
- Registered Agents · first recordedRegistered Agents Inc
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“IDOL2621T-T66079 · Internet DotTrademark Organisation Limited · primary · contention set 2026-147 LFGL2683T-T39556 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-147 RAI2657T-T62805 · Registered Agents Inc · primary · contention set 2026-147”ICANN
“The company has also applied for six new generic top-level domains through ICANN's 2026 New gTLD Program”Registered Agents Inc
“.mark · Lifestyle · “Rate it your way.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: usable but limited (30-49), at its low end. The string is a common English word with several loose semantic hooks: a rating or grade (the applicant's own 'Rate it your way.' framing), a trademark ('mark' in legal shorthand), a bookmark-style suffix hack, and the given name Mark. None of these hooks is strong enough to make .mark a primary-identity default for any category, which is why it does not reach the strong-niche band (50-69): by analogy, review-and-ratings strings and short generic-word TLDs have tended to sell on price and promotions rather than build sustained primary-identity use, and .mark is a weaker fit for the ratings concept than a literal ratings word would be. It stays above the vanity/joke band (10-29 top edge is close) because the dictionary word plus the personal-name Mark audience plus plausible domain hacks give it real, if shallow, registration volume potential over the next 5 years, not purely event-driven demand. Aftermarket value is likely thin: the TLD adds little credibility on its own, and the best names would be hack constructions whose value sits in the second-level string, not the extension. Applicant context, stated neutrally: Link Freedom Group filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round and lists this one under 'Lifestyle' with the tagline 'Rate it your way.'; a large-portfolio applicant suggests a volume-registrar distribution model rather than a single-community push, which fits price-driven adoption. Pricing, marketing budget, and registrar distribution terms are unknown. Main market uncertainty: which demand pool dominates, the ratings/review positioning, the personal-name Mark vanity market, or hack registrations, because the marketing and pricing that would activate any of them are unknown.