ICANN has delegated the first gTLDs under its new gTLD programme, meaning that they have been introduced into the internet's root zone. These are the first four of around 100 new internationalised gTLDs (those in non-Latin scripts such as Chinese, Arabic, or Cyrillic). The sunrise period has now begun for the first four. ICANN expects that around 1400 new gTLDs will ultimately be brought into operation, although only around 7,000 trade marks have been recorded in the Trademark Clearinghouse. For more information about the trademark clearinghouse and the sunrise period, see Legal update, ICANN publishes Uniform Rapid Suspension System Procedure and Rules. For more information about the domain name system generally, see Practice note, Domain names.

Source: ICANN announcement, 23 October 2013.