Summary

  • Reveal Day starts the contention record; it does not freeze it.
  • Four source-defined conditions or outcomes can form or change a contention set.

ICANN’s 2026 Applicant Guidebook treats Reveal Day as one publication point in a longer sequence. A list visible that day is operationally important, but it is not necessarily the final contention-set roster.

Contention can arise from identical strings or variants, the String Similarity Evaluation, a successful Singular/Plural Notification, or a successful String Confusion Objection. ICANN publishes new or updated lists at defined points as those processes produce results.

The practical consequence is that an application cannot be treated as free of contention merely because it is absent from one early snapshot. The Guidebook says that status can be settled only after the relevant string evaluation, dispute-resolution and appeal processes have concluded and applicable .Brand String Change Request outcomes are known.

A successful String Confusion Objection illustrates the mechanism: both applications are placed in direct contention and referred to contention resolution. A later event can therefore change a roster that looked stable earlier.

BTW recommends a dated membership ledger that records each published snapshot, the triggering procedure and the applications added, removed or still exposed. This is editorial advice, not an ICANN requirement.

ICANN identifies Reveal Day and String Confirmation Day, followed by specified evaluation, notification, objection, appeal and accepted .Brand String Change Request results, as publication points for new or updated sets.

Sources