RFC stays at docs/brand-protocol/proposals/distributed-brand-json-rfc.mdx
as a working document, but isn't surfaced in the published docs nav.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

…ouse rename

Addresses Pawel's review on PR #3533:

1. Lead with the operational pain point — Converse can't update its own
   logo in AdCP without editing Nike, Inc.'s file. Reframed Motivation.
2. Hybrid model — brands[] (inline, parent-owned) and brand_refs[]
   (pointer, child-owned) both first-class. Pull-based migration:
   brands[] is no longer deprecated. Sub-brands without their own domain
   stay inline.
3. Flat hierarchy — only the house declares ownership via brand_refs[]
   or brands[]. A brand cannot have its own brand_refs[]. Trust collapses
   to a single hop; no recursive walking.
4. Renamed child-side pointer from `house` to `parent_house` to avoid
   collision with the existing `house` declaration object on the root.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

…ed example

check:owned-links treated the example URL as a real link and failed CI
when the path 404'd. Wrap the brand-domain segment as \${domain} so the
linter recognizes it as a placeholder (it skips URLs containing \${).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

…_domain; add managed_by

Resolves the second round of expert review on PR #3533.

Substantive changes:
- Drop house_attributes / house_attributes_overrides / house_attributes_locked
  entirely. Inheritance/override semantics turned out to be muddy: if a brand
  could weaken a house policy, it wasn't really a house policy. House-level
  fields (data_subject_contestation, trademarks, authorized_operators) are
  already on the house schema; consumers walk house_domain to read them.
  Brand-level additions are just brand-level fields.
- Rename child-side pointer from parent_house ({domain}) to house_domain
  (string). Reuses the existing #/definitions/domain pattern. Drops the
  proposed core/house-ref.json file. Matches the existing House Redirect's
  string-domain convention.
- Add managed_by (string, optional) on brand_refs[] entries. House-declared
  delegation for grouping/discovery. Non-trust-bearing. Captures WPP/Publicis
  reality without reintroducing recursive trust.
- Make house_domain optional on the Brand Canonical Document so standalone
  brands (Patagonia, Liquid Death) have a valid shape. Acquisition adds
  house_domain later; no migration required.
- Add an explicit M&A section: existing redirect variants (House Redirect,
  Authoritative Location Redirect) handle reorganizations; resolution follows
  redirects through house_domain.
- Add a clear field-resolution table: where each consumer-side question is
  answered. No inheritance/override, just per-brand vs per-house ownership.

Trust model still single-hop, mutual-assertion via house_domain ↔ brand_refs[].
Migration still pull-based. brands[] still first-class (not deprecated).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Concrete schema additions for review against RFC #3533. Additive only —
existing publishers unchanged.

brand.json schema:
- New variant: Brand Canonical Document. Self-published per-brand doc
  with `parent_house: BrandRef` pointer + optional house_attributes_overrides.
  Composes the existing `brand` definition via allOf so identity fields
  match the inline `brands[]` shape.
- House Portfolio variant gains `brand_refs[]` (pointer brands, child-owned
  data) and `house_attributes` (house-wide inheritable attributes). Required
  changed from ["house","brands"] to ["house"] with anyOf at-least-one of
  brands[]/brand_refs[].
- Two new examples illustrating mixed inline+pointer house and a self-
  published Converse canonical document.

docs/brand-protocol/brand-json.mdx: added a "Proposed (RFC)" callout
pointing at the RFC and PR #3533. Existing four variants documented as-is.

Cross-array invariant — a brand_id MUST NOT appear in both brands[] and
brand_refs[] of the same house — is documented in field descriptions.
JSON Schema can't express it; lint/validator follow-up needed if RFC ratifies.

Status: review-only. Not normative until RFC ratifies. Marked DRAFT.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

…arent_house example

Code-reviewer + protocol-expert findings on PR #3764:

- Brand Canonical Document variant lacked oneOf disambiguation.
  brand definition has additionalProperties: true and the inner allOf
  member had no constraint, so a malformed Portfolio with a stray
  parent_house could silently re-type as a Canonical Document. Replaced
  the narrow not: {required: ["brand_refs"]} with not: {anyOf: [...]}
  blocking all house-only top-level keys (house, brands, brand_refs,
  house_attributes, authorized_operators).
- Fixed example: parent_house: { domain: "nikeinc.com", brand_id: "converse" }
  read as "I'm pointing at converse inside nikeinc.com" — but Converse owns
  this document; the brand_id was the self, not the parent. parent_house
  is a pointer UP, only domain is meaningful for a typical house pointer.
  Updated both the schema example and the docs section.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

…managed_by + drop house_attributes

Tracks RFC #3533 v3. Replaces the v2 cut with the simplified model decided
during expert review.

Schema deltas (relative to previous impl cut):
- Replace parent_house ($ref core/brand-ref.json) with house_domain (string,
  reuses #/definitions/domain). Strings match the existing House Redirect
  convention and drop the planned core/house-ref.json file entirely.
- Make house_domain optional on Brand Canonical Document so standalone brands
  (Patagonia, Liquid Death) have a valid shape without spinning up a degenerate
  "house of one." If a standalone brand is later acquired, it adds house_domain
  and the new house adds it to brand_refs[]. No new variant needed.
- Drop house_attributes / house_attributes_overrides entirely. Inheritance/
  override semantics turned out muddy — if a brand could weaken a house policy,
  it wasn't really a house policy. House-level fields stay where they already
  are (data_subject_contestation, trademarks, authorized_operators on the
  house schema). Brand-level constraints are additive, not overrides.
- Replace the brand_refs[] $ref to core/brand-ref.json with an inline
  {domain, brand_id?, managed_by?} shape. brand-ref.json's existing
  governance-override fields (industries, data_subject_contestation) don't
  belong on a house-side declaration; they're consumer-side overrides.
- Add managed_by (string, optional) on brand_refs[] entries — house-declared
  delegation for grouping/discovery, non-trust-bearing. Captures WPP/Publicis
  reality (BBH manages this brand for WPP) without reintroducing recursive
  trust.

Examples updated:
- Nike Inc. mixed-shape (inline Nike SB + pointer Converse, Jordan)
- WPP with managed_by (BBH Sport managed_by bbh.com, etc.)
- Converse self-published with house_domain
- Patagonia standalone (no house_domain)

docs/brand-protocol/brand-json.mdx: rewritten Distributed Extensions section
to match the new shape. Adds the four worked examples. Adds field-resolution
table showing where each consumer-side question is answered (no inheritance,
no overrides). Adds explicit M&A section showing existing redirect variants
handle reorganizations.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

…rmance, strictest-of compliance

Addresses round-2 expert review on RFC v3:

- managed_by gets normative language: MUST NOT be used for trust/auth
  decisions; verifiers MUST ignore for authorization. UIs SHOULD render as
  unilateral house claim, not aggregate cross-house.
- New "Compliance fields: strictest-of resolution" section. Identity fields
  (logos, voice, tone) stay brand-wins. Compliance/governance fields
  (data_subject_contestation, compliance_policies, regulated-category flags)
  resolve as union/strictest of house-level and brand-level — brand cannot
  weaken house assertions, only add stricter constraints.
- New "Standalone brands" subsection: absence of house_domain ⇒ standalone,
  regardless of one-sided third-party brand_refs[] claims.
- New "Conformance" section formalizing brand_id cross-array uniqueness,
  within-array uniqueness, mutual-assertion as canonical trust primitive,
  managed_by non-trust, standalone trumps third-party claim, strictest-of
  rule, 180-day TTL.
- New "Prior art" section citing IAB Tech Lab ads.txt/sellers.json reciprocal
  publication model — same trust shape, deployed industry pattern.

No structural changes to the data model.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

…ion + tighten not deny-list

Code-reviewer round-2 nits on PR #3764:

- Extract brand_refs[] item shape from inline to #/definitions/brand_ref
  (named type for SDK codegen / generator output). Description includes the
  managed_by non-trust normative language directly on the field.
- Tighten Brand Canonical Document not.anyOf to also block House Redirect's
  region and note keys. Disambiguation against House Redirect was already
  clean via id+names requirement, but the deny-list now matches all four
  other variants' top-level fields explicitly.

No example or behavior changes.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

…d brand-level trademarks

Consolidates #3409 / #3533 (RFC) / #3764 (schema cut) / #3910 (fold) / #3909
(typed trademarks) into one normative PR.

**Fold (#3910):** RFC content (Motivation, Conformance, strictest-of compliance
resolution, Prior art) absorbed into docs/brand-protocol/brand-json.mdx as
the normative spec. Proposals subdir and the standalone RFC file deleted.
Variant list now reads as five variants from the top; Brand Canonical Document
slots in as #5 alongside the other four.

**Typed trademarks (#3909):** New #/definitions/trademark extracts the inline
house-portfolio shape ({registry, number, mark}) with optional status,
license_type, countries. brand definition gains trademarks: Trademark[].
House Portfolio's inline trademarks[] migrated to $ref. House-level + brand-
level resolution is union (both lists are valid claims).

Existing publishers are unaffected — all additions are optional, the existing
four variants are unchanged, and the inline trademark shape continues to
validate against the extracted definition.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>