# BRD-160 — Register the message sender, not the agency or platform

> The brand must be the legal entity whose messages are sent — never the agency, ISV, reseller, or software platform acting on its behalf.

- **Rule ID:** BRD-160
- **Layer:** Brand (`BRAND`)
- **Checks:** `brand.company_name`
- **Severity:** BLOCKING — Breaking this rule gets the submission rejected outright.
- **When it bites:** Gates approval — get this wrong and registration is refused
- **How it is detected:** Human check — only someone holding the document can settle it; AI judgement over the submitted form
- **Fix type:** Fix the field — a better value in the form clears it
- **Required by:** TCR, Twilio, Telnyx, Bandwidth, AWS, T-Mobile, CTIA
- **Applies:** Applies to every 10DLC registration.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/brand/brd-160/

## Why this rule exists

Consent runs to a specific sender, so the brand on the registration must be the business the consumer agreed to hear from. Registering the agency or platform instead breaks that chain and is the highest-frequency brand rejection in the corpus — 10 separate sources across 11 authorities call it out.

## How to fix it

Register the brand under the legal entity that owns the customer relationship and whose name appears in the messages. If you are an agency or platform registering on behalf of a client, the client is the brand — register them, with their EIN and their website, and add yourself as the CSP rather than the brand.

## Example of a compliant value

```text
Brand: Acme Coffee Co, LLC (the business texting its own customers) — not "Northstar Marketing Group" (the agency running the campaign).
```

## Check this yourself

**Is the legal entity on this brand the business whose name appears in the messages, rather than the agency or platform that sends them?**

1. Read one of your sample messages as a recipient would, and note which business it says is texting.
2. Compare that business against the legal name and EIN on the brand. They must be the same entity.
3. If you are an agency, ISV or reseller, your client is the brand and you are the CSP — register them, not yourself.

*What wrong looks like:* The brand says Northstar Platform, Inc. and the message says "Acme Coffee: your order is ready". The consumer consented to hear from Acme, so Acme is the brand and Northstar is not.

## Notes

Highest-frequency brand rejection in the corpus (10 source rows, 11 authorities). A tool that fills the form from whatever website it was pointed at can actively induce this failure.