Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.adcontextprotocol.org/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Ask a brand-agent a verification question about a facet of its identity. This is a prerequisite gate — check before you proceed, not a signal you consume after a decision is locked in. One tool with four claim types covers the verification dimensions:
claim_type | The question | Used at |
|---|
subsidiary | ”Is this brand a subsidiary of yours?” | Brand-relationship establishment, member-feature provisioning, governance-trust extension |
parent | ”Is this brand your parent house?” (leaf-side mirror) | Mutual-assertion confirmation at the agent layer |
property | ”Is this site / app / property one of yours?” | Inventory onboarding, creative clearance, fraud escalation |
trademark | ”Is this trademark yours?” | Creative-clearance gates, licensee-posture confirmation |
pending_review, transferring, licensed_in, etc.) that the static file can’t express. The tool is one specific-question affordance on top of the same identity surface get_brand_identity reads.
For high-volume verification (portfolio refresh, creative-clearance batches, crawler scans), use the bulk variant verify_brand_claims — same per-claim semantics, one round-trip and one rate-limit slot for the whole batch.
The trust rule — two calls, not one
A single signed owned response is NOT trust-extending. Mutual assertion remains the floor for positive trust. This is the load-bearing rule of the asymmetric trust model — assertion direction requires both sides to agree. Consumers MUST call both sides when extending relationship trust:
- For
subsidiary claims, also call the leaf’s brand-agent with claim_type: "parent" (or crawl the leaf’s brand.json for its house_domain).
- For
property claims, cross-check against the brand’s static brand.json properties[] and (for domains) DNS/TLS evidence.
- For
trademark claims, cross-check the public registry record. For licensed_in specifically, the licensor named in details.licensor_domain SHOULD reciprocate licensed_out for the same mark before the licensing relationship is trusted.
- Only rejections (
disputed / not_ours) are authoritative on a single signed response — a brand has standing to refuse association unilaterally.
Shortcuts kill the trust model. Without the reciprocation step, a malicious or mistaken house could claim subsidiaries, properties, or licensed marks it doesn’t actually have. See brand.json § Agent-augmented verification for the full normative trust table and the malicious-house walkthrough.
Schema
Capability discovery
The brand-agent advertises this task in its get_adcp_capabilities response. An agent that supports only some claim types declares this via the per-tool capability extension:
{
"supported_protocols": ["brand"],
"supported_tasks": [
"get_brand_identity",
"verify_brand_claim"
],
"brand": {
"verify_brand_claim": {
"supported_claim_types": ["subsidiary", "parent", "trademark"]
}
}
}
supported_claim_types is omitted, the agent advertises support for all four. Consumers MUST check before relying on a specific claim type; unsupported types return UNSUPPORTED_CLAIM_TYPE (see Error handling).
Minimum viable adoption
A brand-agent doesn’t have to ship all four claim types at once. Pick the slice that matches the workflow:
- Property only — creative-clearance and inventory-onboarding consumers; the smallest useful surface.
- Subsidiary + parent — partners doing brand-relationship establishment or governance-trust extension; ship both halves at once so mutual assertion completes at the agent layer.
- Trademark only — creative-clearance pipelines that need licensee posture (the differentiator from registry crawls).
- All four — full coverage; recommended for AAO-hosted agents serving many member configurations.
Advertise only the types you implement. Partners check supported_claim_types and route accordingly; unsupported types return UNSUPPORTED_CLAIM_TYPE cleanly.
Authorization tiers
The public/authorized split per claim type:
| Tier | What the agent returns |
|---|
| Public (no linked account) | claim_type, status (always). For applicable claim types: details.brand_id, details.relationship, details.matched_registration, details.countries, details.nice_classes. context_note when populated. |
Authorized (via sync_accounts) | Everything above, plus: details.first_observed_by_house_at, details.expected_resolution_window_days, details.use_case_authorization, details.licensor_domain (when licensed_in). |
Per-claim-type request and response shapes
The details field on the response varies by claim_type. Below: the request payload and the typed details fields each claim type returns.
claim_type: "subsidiary"
House-side: a consumer detects converse.com claiming house_domain: nikeinc.com. Asks Nike’s agent:
{
"claim_type": "subsidiary",
"claim": {
"subsidiary_domain": "converse.com",
"subsidiary_brand_id": "converse",
"observed_at": "2026-05-14T10:00:00Z"
}
}
{
"claim_type": "subsidiary",
"status": "owned",
"details": { "brand_id": "converse" }
}
{
"claim_type": "subsidiary",
"status": "not_ours",
"context_note": "We have no record of this brand; the leaf's claim is in error."
}
owned, pending_review, transferring, disputed, not_ours, archived, unknown. (licensed_in / licensed_out don’t apply — subsidiaries aren’t licensed; brands and trademarks are.) archived means the brand once held this subsidiary (e.g., a divested business unit) but no longer does — distinct from not_ours (never owned).
Request claim fields:
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|
subsidiary_domain | Yes | Domain of the leaf brand whose house_domain claim is being verified. |
subsidiary_brand_id | No | Stable brand identifier the leaf uses for itself. Recommended; helps the agent disambiguate when multiple brands share a domain. |
observed_at | No | ISO 8601 timestamp — when the caller observed the leaf’s claim. Helps the agent age claims and prioritize fresh ones in its internal queue. |
details fields:
| Field | Tier | Returned when | Notes |
|---|
brand_id | Public | status ∈ | The house’s brand_id for this subsidiary. |
first_observed_by_house_at | Authorized | any | When the house first became aware of the claim. |
expected_resolution_window_days | Authorized | REQUIRED when status is pending_review; otherwise Authorized when present | The aging window. Enforcement is agent-side: the agent MUST transition the claim to a terminal status or unknown once the window elapses. When a pending_review response is older than its declared window, consumers SHOULD treat it as unknown and fall back to crawl. |
claim_type: "parent" (leaf-side mirror)
Leaf-side: a consumer wants the leaf’s authoritative answer about its parent. Asks Converse’s agent:
{
"claim_type": "parent",
"claim": {
"parent_domain": "nikeinc.com",
"claimant_says": "Nike's brand_refs[] lists converse.com"
}
}
{
"claim_type": "parent",
"status": "owned",
"details": { "house_domain": "nikeinc.com" }
}
{
"claim_type": "parent",
"status": "disputed",
"context_note": "We are not a Nike subsidiary; their claim is in error."
}
subsidiary (mirror).
Request claim fields:
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|
parent_domain | Yes | Domain of the house being claimed as this brand’s parent. |
claimant_says | No | Free-text context about what the claimant published (e.g., “Nike’s brand_refs[] lists converse.com”). Helps the agent disambiguate competing claims. |
observed_at | No | ISO 8601 timestamp — when the caller observed the parent claim. |
details fields:
| Field | Tier | Returned when | Notes |
|---|
house_domain | Public | status ∈ | The brand’s declared parent house. NOT returned for pending_review — the leaf hasn’t yet accepted the parent claim. |
first_observed_by_leaf_at | Authorized | any | When the leaf first became aware of a third-party claim about its parentage. |
verify_brand_claim with claim_type: "subsidiary" (on the house) AND with claim_type: "parent" (on the leaf) return owned for the same relationship, mutual assertion is established at the agent layer — no static-file crawl required. This is the cleanest path for trust extension.
claim_type: "property"
The request asks about one property; the response describes the brand’s relationship with that property, including all regions where the relationship applies (which may exceed the one named in the query).
{
"claim_type": "property",
"claim": {
"property": {
"type": "website",
"identifier": "nike.cn",
"region": "CN"
},
"use_case": "advertising"
}
}
{
"claim_type": "property",
"status": "owned",
"details": {
"relationship": "owned",
"brand_id": "nike",
"regions": ["CN"],
"use_case_authorization": { "advertising": true }
},
"context_note": "Regional site for China market"
}
{
"claim_type": "property",
"claim": { "property": { "type": "website", "identifier": "nike.com" } }
}
→
{
"claim_type": "property",
"status": "owned",
"details": {
"relationship": "owned",
"brand_id": "nike",
"regions": ["US", "CA", "GB", "FR", "DE", "JP", "AU"]
}
}
{
"claim_type": "property",
"claim": { "property": { "type": "website", "identifier": "fake-nike-store.com" } }
}
→
{
"claim_type": "property",
"status": "not_ours",
"context_note": "Unaffiliated third-party site; we do not authorize use of our marks on it."
}
owned, transferring, disputed, not_ours, archived, unknown. (pending_review is uncommon for properties; use transferring for in-flight ownership changes.) archived means the brand once operated this property (e.g., a sold-off domain) but no longer does.
Request claim fields:
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|
property.type | Yes | website, mobile_app, ctv_app, desktop_app, dooh, podcast, radio, streaming_audio. |
property.identifier | Yes | Domain for websites/podcasts, bundle id for apps, etc. |
property.store | When type is an app | apple, google, amazon, roku, fire_tv, samsung, lg, vizio, other. |
property.region | No | Single ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code (or "global") — the region the caller cares about. The response’s details.regions carries the full applicable set. |
use_case | No | Free-text use case (e.g., "advertising"). The agent MAY scope its answer accordingly. |
details fields:
| Field | Tier | Returned when | Notes |
|---|
relationship | Public | status ∈ | owned / direct / delegated / ad_network — mirrors brand.json’s properties[].relationship. |
brand_id | Public | status ∈ | The brand within the house that owns this property. |
regions | Public | status ∈ | ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes, or ["global"] sentinel for no regional restriction. May include regions beyond the one the request named. |
use_case_authorization | Authorized | any | Per-use-case permission map. Registered keys: advertising, endorsement, retail_listing, editorial, commercial_advertising, merchandise_resale. Agents MAY add extensions. |
claim_type: "trademark"
{
"claim_type": "trademark",
"claim": {
"mark": "AIR JORDAN",
"registry": "USPTO",
"number": "1234567"
}
}
{
"claim_type": "trademark",
"status": "owned",
"details": {
"matched_registration": {
"registry": "USPTO",
"number": "1234567",
"mark": "AIR JORDAN",
"registration_status": "active"
},
"countries": ["US"],
"nice_classes": [25, 41]
}
}
{
"claim_type": "trademark",
"status": "licensed_in",
"details": {
"matched_registration": { "registry": "EUIPO", "number": "EU98765", "mark": "CONVERSE", "registration_status": "active" },
"licensor_domain": "converseholdings-eu.com",
"countries": ["FR", "DE", "IT", "ES"],
"nice_classes": [25]
}
}
licensed_in reciprocation. Consumers SHOULD treat licensed_in as unverified until the named licensor_domain’s brand-agent reciprocates licensed_out for the same mark (same mutual-assertion shape as ownership, just across the licensing edge). Without reciprocation, the brand could unilaterally claim a licensed relationship that doesn’t exist.
The brand can also reject — rejection direction is authoritative on a single signed response:
{
"claim_type": "trademark",
"claim": { "mark": "AIR JORDAN", "registry": "EUIPO" }
}
→
{
"claim_type": "trademark",
"status": "disputed",
"context_note": "EU mark in this jurisdiction held by separate entity; we contest their registration and do not authorize use as ours."
}
owned, licensed_in, licensed_out, transferring, disputed, not_ours, archived, unknown. (pending_review is uncommon — trademark registrations are public-record events with definitive ownership at any given time.) archived means the brand once held this mark (expired, cancelled, transferred to another party) but no longer does.
details fields:
| Field | Tier | Notes |
|---|
matched_registration | Public | The registration the agent matched the query to. Returned when status is owned, licensed_in, licensed_out, or transferring. |
licensor_domain | Public | Domain of the licensor when status is licensed_in. |
countries | Public | ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes the response covers. |
nice_classes | Public | Nice Classification class numbers. Disambiguates cross-industry marks. |
use_case_authorization | Authorized | Per-use-case permission for this mark — the differentiator from registry crawls. |
Trust model
The agent’s response is signed under the brand’s adcp_use: "response-signing" JWK. The trust model is direction-asymmetric:
- Rejection direction (agent says
disputed / not_ours) is authoritative. A brand can refuse association unilaterally; no mutual reciprocation required.
- Assertion direction (agent says
owned / pending_review / transferring / licensed_*) is informative but NOT trust-extending on its own. The reciprocating side must still confirm before trust extends.
When both the house-side and leaf-side agents speak (via claim_type: "subsidiary" and claim_type: "parent" respectively), mutual assertion is established at the agent layer. When only one side has an agent, fall back to crawl-based mutual-assertion inference per brand.json § Mutual-assertion trust model.
See brand.json § Agent-augmented verification for the full trust table and the malicious-house walkthrough.
Caching
Per-status:
owned / not_ours / disputed — stable. 24-72h.pending_review — volatile. Max-age ≤1h.transferring — volatile until transition. Max-age ≤4h.licensed_in / licensed_out — moderately volatile. 24h.use_case_authorization — most volatile. Re-check per session.unknown — short cache (≤1h).
Agents SHOULD set Cache-Control: max-age=N. Consumers MAY override downward but SHOULD NOT exceed agent-supplied max-age.
Error handling
| Error code | Cause |
|---|
AUTH_INVALID | Caller’s signed envelope did not verify. |
RATE_LIMITED | Agent has rate-limited the caller per {caller_identity, claim_type, claim-target}. Agents SHOULD return Retry-After and prefer returning cached prior answer. |
UNSUPPORTED_CLAIM_TYPE | The agent does not implement the requested claim_type. Check supported_claim_types via get_adcp_capabilities. |
INVALID_INPUT | Required claim fields are missing or malformed (e.g., subsidiary_domain not a valid hostname). |
AMBIGUOUS_MATCH | For claim_type: "trademark" — multiple registrations match. Narrow with registry, number, or countries. |
{
"errors": [
{
"code": "UNSUPPORTED_CLAIM_TYPE",
"message": "claim_type 'property' is not supported by this agent. Supported: subsidiary, parent, trademark."
}
]
}
