This is a relic of the CA/B Forum (https://cabforum.org/) delegating review of brand/trademark checks to the CAs. We (CloudFlare) send hostnames to the CA for issuance and they check against internal lists, holding up anything for manual review that may violate another's trademark or be used for phishing (e.g., "pavpal" with a 'v' rather than a 'y'), etc.
Each CA has their procedures but most look at data sources like the Alexa Top 1000, and specific requests from high value targets like Microsoft, Google, etc. In some cases, e.g., Microsoft, the CAs must actually reach out to specific contacts at those firms before they can issue. In other cases, they manually review and release to us.
Each CA has their procedures but most look at data sources like the Alexa Top 1000, and specific requests from high value targets like Microsoft, Google, etc. In some cases, e.g., Microsoft, the CAs must actually reach out to specific contacts at those firms before they can issue. In other cases, they manually review and release to us.