ICANN String Similarity Results for IDN Strings

In an announcement on 26 February 2013, ICANN published a list of string similarity contention sets wherein two or more applied-for gTLD strings are identical or so nearly resemble one another visually that they are likely to cause confusion. In ICANN’s New gTLD program, string similarity checks on Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) strings go beyond visual resemblance. The string similarity panel has now completed a review of potential IDN variant characters. Based on this review, two (2) contention sets of potential IDN variant strings have been identified.

As per section 1.3.3 of the Applicant Guidebook “Multiple applicants apply for strings that are identified by ICANN as variants of one another. These applications will be placed in a contention set and will follow the contention resolution procedures in Module 4.” For more information and the procedures used to perform the IDN variant review see the IDN Variant TLDs – Integrated Issues Report, Appendix 5 at http://www.icann.org/en/topics/idn/idn-vip-integrated-issues-final-clean-20feb12-en.pdf [PDF, 2.1 MB].

The IDN Variant TLD Program is tasked to develop solutions and define necessary processes that must be in place to enable future delegation of IDN variant TLDs. More information about this program can be found at: http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/variant-tlds

View all String Contention Sets: PDF [167 KB], CSV [67 KB]