diff --git a/docs/cli/catalog-commands.md b/docs/cli/catalog-commands.md
index b4a54d2f5..f04cdfe96 100644
--- a/docs/cli/catalog-commands.md
+++ b/docs/cli/catalog-commands.md
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ mcpproxy catalog search                    # browse the Official and Popular sec
 | `--limit`, `-l <n>` | Maximum results (default 20, maximum 50) |
 | `--tag`, `-t` | Not supported: catalog entries carry no tags, so a non-empty value is rejected |
 
-Results from every source are merged and ranked: by how well the name matches the query first (the publisher equals the query, an exact name, a name prefix, a name word, then a substring or description, with a match through the namespace alone last), then official source, verified publisher (the publisher owns the source repository, or the entry comes from a trusted Docker or reference source), popularity (stars or installs when the source provides them; a missing value counts as zero) and title. A source that times out is reported as unavailable and the other sources' results still print. The order is identical on REST, the Web UI, macOS and the MCP `search_servers` tool.
+Results from every source are merged and ranked: by how well the name matches the query first (the publisher equals the query, an exact name, a name prefix, a name word, then a substring or description, with a match through the namespace alone last), then official source, verified publisher (the publisher owns the source repository; generic labels such as labs, tools, mcp, dev, app and ai verify only when they exactly equal the repository owner, or the entry comes from a trusted Docker or reference source), popularity (stars or installs when the source provides them; a missing value counts as zero) and title. A source that times out is reported as unavailable and the other sources' results still print. The order is identical on REST, the Web UI, macOS and the MCP `search_servers` tool.
 
 ```
 SOURCE     ID                                 TITLE                    TRANSPORT  ADDED
diff --git a/internal/registries/catalog.go b/internal/registries/catalog.go
index 326a27622..6876e2f59 100644
--- a/internal/registries/catalog.go
+++ b/internal/registries/catalog.go
@@ -474,7 +474,8 @@ func catalogHitTitle(reg *RegistryEntry, entry ServerEntry) string {
 // owns the GitHub repository it names as its source (Spec 109 D37.5): an
 // `io.github.<x>` namespace needs repo owner x; a domain namespace needs its
 // owner label (≥ 3 characters, e.g. "notion" of com.notion) to equal the repo
-// owner, be a whole token of it, or be a ≥ 5 character brand with a ≤ 4
+// owner (a generic label from genericOwnerLabels verifies ONLY on that exact
+// equality), be a whole token of it, or be a ≥ 5 character brand with a ≤ 4
 // character prefix/suffix on it (e.g. "makenotion"). A re-publisher of someone else's server, a
 // borrowed repo URL or a missing repository never verifies.
 func publisherOwnsRepo(id, sourceCodeURL string) bool {
@@ -496,12 +497,21 @@ func publisherOwnsRepo(id, sourceCodeURL string) bool {
 	return ok && domainLabelMatchesOwner(label, repoOwner)
 }
 
+// genericOwnerLabels are domain labels any publisher can register, so they
+// never verify through the token or affix rules (#1466).
+var genericOwnerLabels = map[string]bool{
+	"labs": true, "tools": true, "mcp": true, "dev": true, "app": true, "ai": true,
+}
+
 // domainLabelMatchesOwner is the domain-namespace half of publisherOwnsRepo.
 // A bare substring test let any short label verify against an unrelated owner
 // ("hub" inside "github"), so the label must be the owner itself, a whole
 // "-"/"_"-separated token of it ("acme" of acme-corp), or a brand of at least
 // 5 characters with a short (at most 4 characters) prefix or suffix on the
-// owner ("notion" of makenotion).
+// owner ("notion" of makenotion). Generic labels (genericOwnerLabels: labs,
+// tools, mcp, dev, app, ai) are anyone's: they verify only on exact equality
+// with the owner, so com.tools cannot borrow acme-tools. The deny-list applies
+// to the namespace label, not to the repo owner's tokens.
 func domainLabelMatchesOwner(label, repoOwner string) bool {
 	if len(label) < 3 {
 		return false
@@ -509,6 +519,9 @@ func domainLabelMatchesOwner(label, repoOwner string) bool {
 	if label == repoOwner {
 		return true
 	}
+	if genericOwnerLabels[label] {
+		return false
+	}
 	for _, tok := range strings.FieldsFunc(repoOwner, func(r rune) bool { return r == '-' || r == '_' }) {
 		if tok == label {
 			return true
diff --git a/internal/registries/verified_generic_labels_test.go b/internal/registries/verified_generic_labels_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d3c3c7c01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/registries/verified_generic_labels_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+package registries
+
+import "testing"
+
+// Generic domain labels (labs, tools, mcp, dev, app, ai) must verify only on an
+// exact repo-owner match, never through the token or affix rules (#1466).
+func TestPublisherOwnsRepo_GenericLabels(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		id, url string
+		want    bool
+	}{
+		{"com.tools/x", "https://github.com/acme-tools/x", false},
+		{"com.mcp/x", "https://github.com/mcp-acme/x", false},
+		{"io.labs/x", "https://github.com/acme-labs/x", false},
+		{"com.dev/x", "https://github.com/dev_corp/x", false},
+		{"com.app/x", "https://github.com/myapp/x", false},
+		{"com.app/x", "https://github.com/app-corp/x", false},
+		{"com.ai/x", "https://github.com/acme-ai/x", false},
+		{"com.tools/x", "https://github.com/tools/x", true},
+		{"com.acme/mcp", "https://github.com/acme-corp/x", true},
+		{"com.notion/mcp", "https://github.com/makenotion/x", true},
+	}
+	for _, c := range cases {
+		if got := publisherOwnsRepo(c.id, c.url); got != c.want {
+			t.Errorf("publisherOwnsRepo(%q, %q) = %v, want %v", c.id, c.url, got, c.want)
+		}
+	}
+}