AuthenticWeb.com and pitch.law have formed a strategic partnership to support legal and corporate stakeholders in ICANN's new top-level domain round. This partnership combines AuthenticWeb's technical registry infrastructure expertise with pitch.law's specialised legal services for gTLD applicants, delivering an integrated end-to-end solution that eliminates the coordination overhead of managing separate technical and legal advisory teams.
The 2026 new gTLD round presents a more complex application environment than the 2012 round. The Applicant Guidebook has expanded from approximately 50 questions to over 200, covering enhanced security requirements, financial capability assessments, DNS abuse prevention obligations, and detailed registry operator evaluations. Navigating this complexity requires both deep technical knowledge of registry operations and specialised legal expertise in ICANN processes, trademark protection mechanisms, and registry agreement negotiation. The AuthenticWeb-pitch.law partnership delivers both in a single coordinated engagement.
The partnership covers the full applicant journey from initial feasibility assessment through to registry activation. On the legal side, pitch.law handles feasibility analysis (assessing whether the proposed TLD string is available, likely to face contention, and aligned with the applicant's strategic objectives), application drafting (working through the AGB question set with the applicant team), ICANN evaluation management (responding to evaluator queries and managing the application through ICANN's review processes), objection proceedings (defending against objections filed by third parties), and registry agreement negotiation (finalising the contractual terms under which the TLD will operate).
On the technical side, AuthenticWeb provides back-end registry infrastructure (the technical platform that operates the TLD's DNS, WHOIS/RDAP, EPP, and registration systems), technical due diligence support (answering the AGB's technical evaluation questions with evidence of operational capability), and operational launch preparation (configuring the registry systems, testing DNSSEC, and preparing for delegation).
Clients engage a single coordinated team rather than managing separate technical and legal advisors. This reduces coordination overhead, eliminates gaps between the legal and technical workstreams, and ensures that the application presents a coherent, integrated narrative to ICANN's evaluators.
The partnership is designed for three categories of applicant. First, brand TLD applicants: organisations applying for a closed TLD consisting of their own brand name, operated exclusively for their own use. These applicants need both the legal framework for a brand TLD application (including Specification 13 protections) and a contracted registry service provider to operate the technical infrastructure. Second, open gTLD applicants: organisations applying for a generic or descriptive string intended for public registration. These applicants face a more complex evaluation process and benefit from the combined technical and legal preparation that the partnership provides. Third, returning applicants from the 2012 round: organisations that already operate a gTLD and are applying for additional strings in the 2026 round. These applicants have operational experience but need to update their applications for the materially changed 2026 AGB requirements.
An end-to-end solution for gTLD applicants: technical registry infrastructure via AuthenticWeb.com and full legal guidance via pitch.law, from feasibility study through registry activation. One engagement, one coordinated team, one fixed price for the advisory component.
Yes. The partnership is designed to support both new applicants (who need more guidance through the ICANN process) and experienced registry operators who want to add a new gTLD efficiently without building a separate advisory team for the 2026 round. The level of support is calibrated to the applicant's experience and internal resources.
The application window is expected to open in April 2026. A well-prepared brand TLD application typically requires 3 to 6 months of structured preparation. Applicants who engage in late 2025 or early 2026 will have adequate time for feasibility analysis, string selection, registry operator contracting, and AGB preparation. Applicants who wait until the window opens risk being unable to complete the preparation within the submission period.
The legal advisory component is priced on a fixed-fee basis, with the scope defined at engagement based on the applicant's specific requirements. AuthenticWeb's registry infrastructure services are priced separately under their standard commercial terms. The combined engagement provides cost predictability that is not available when managing separate advisory relationships.
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