Clearance is the free hook. Filing is the business.
Your users pick a name. Give them a free, signed clearance verdict inside your product — then earn on the filing, monitoring and renewals that follow. One integration, US & EU coverage.
Pentonym gives your users free trademark clearance over API and MCP — a three-state verdict, signed and verifiable. When a cleared name goes to filing, an independent US attorney does the legal work and Pentonym charges a flat platform fee you share in. You never touch the legal fee or the government fee. A screening signal, not legal advice.
Saying yes is free. Building it yourself is a wall.
Embed the rail — the wedge
- Clearance is free, so it only lifts your funnel — a naming step that makes you look smarter, not a warning label
- You keep the customer and the brand; the verdict surface can carry your name
- Live in days — sandbox key to first signed call in under 30 minutes
- Every step after it — file, watch, renew — is a revenue SKU you share in
Your non-US founders are legally required to use a US attorney — and offered nothing.
Since 2019, any trademark applicant whose domicile is outside the United States must be represented by a US-licensed attorney to file at the USPTO. For a formation platform whose customers are overwhelmingly foreign founders forming US LLCs, that isn’t a footnote — it’s a wall your users hit the moment they try to protect the name they just formed under. You can’t be that attorney (Rule 5.4). Pentonym already carries one.
The whole thesis in one line: the founders you serve are the exact founders the law says need a US attorney for a trademark — and today, right after formation, they leave to go find one. Embed the rail and they never leave.
One rail. The integration depth is your call.
Your AI calls it
If your product has an agent, it already speaks MCP. One hosted tool, keyless for the free tier.
One signed endpoint
A single POST returns the three-state verdict, signed. Wire it into your formation flow server-side.
Send them to a check
No build at all — deep-link users to a hosted, signed clearance. Your brand on the surface on the white-label tier.
Same signed, verifiable verdict underneath all three — anyone can re-check it against our public key.
What a name earns after it clears
Clearance is free because it is the hook — it is how you and your AI find the fewer-than-1-in-20 names that actually survive. Everything downstream is paid, at flat retail prices you can quote today:
| Service | Retail (reference) | |
|---|---|---|
| Clearance | API + MCP, US & EU, signed verdict | FREE |
| Filing | Pentonym platform fee (per application) | $249 |
| Office-action response | Platform fee per response | $149 |
| Monitoring | Free year one, auto-renew | $149/yr |
| Madrid designation | Per designated jurisdiction | $290 |
| Maintenance (§8/§9) | Post-registration upkeep | $199 |
Direct plans, for reference: Founder $39/mo · API from $99/mo · done-for-you naming $499. Prices are retail reference points; your partner rate is set per agreement.
Two invoices, never one
Pentonym is not a law firm and never provides legal services (ABA Model Rule 5.4). So the money never mixes. A filing produces up to three distinct charges, and only the first is Pentonym revenue:
Platform fee
Pentonym charges the flat platform fee ($249 to file). This is the only line you and Pentonym share in.
Legal fee
An independent US attorney bills the client directly for the legal work. It never flows through Pentonym or the partner.
Government fee
The USPTO fee (~$350/class) is passed through at cost. It is never Pentonym revenue and never marked up.
Partner economics apply only to Invoice 1. The attorney's legal fee and the USPTO government fee never flow through Pentonym, so they are never part of any revenue share.
Pick the integration depth that fits
Send users to Pentonym-branded clearance. No integration, no minimum.
- Commission on platform fees you refer
- No integration work — a link is enough
- No volume minimum
- Tracked, signed receipts per referral
Drop-in widget or iFrame inside your product. Your users never leave.
- Revenue share on platform fees
- Drop-in widget / iFrame — minutes to embed
- No volume minimum
- Clearance stays free for your users
Wholesale rate, your brand, your retail. Volume tiers.
- Wholesale rate — you set your own retail
- White-label: your brand on the verdict surface
- Volume tiers finalized per partner
- Same signed, verifiable verdict underneath
Model assumes roughly 25% of the platform fee to the partner. Attorney and USPTO fees never flow through Pentonym, so they are never in the share.
Volume bands, finalized per partner
The ladder below is indicative only — a placeholder to show the shape, not a published rate card. Your actual bands are agreed per partner against real volume. The share always applies to Pentonym platform fees, never to the attorney or government fees.
| Monthly filings | Indicative partner share | |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | First band, no minimum to start | ~25% |
| Growth | Sustained mid-volume | ~30% |
| Scale | High-volume, committed | up to ~35% |
Indicative bands only — not a published wholesale rate. Finalized per partner in your agreement.
What you're embedding — and what you're not
What Pentonym is
- A screening signal — a real, signed verdict
- Three-state: PROCEED / DO_NOT_PROCEED / CANNOT_DETERMINE, never a score
- US & EU coverage, verifiable against a public key
- The platform-fee earner you share in
Sandbox key to first clearance call in under 30 minutes.
Tell us what you're building. We'll send a sandbox key and the embed snippet — you'll have a live, signed clearance verdict running in your product the same afternoon.
Partner questions
Does clearance cost my users anything?
No. Clearance is free over API and MCP — that's the point. It's the hook that surfaces the rare name worth filing. You earn on the filing and the services that follow, not on the check itself.
What exactly do I earn on?
The Pentonym platform fee only (e.g. $249 to file). The independent attorney's legal fee and the USPTO government fee never flow through Pentonym, so they're never part of the revenue share.
Is there a minimum to become a partner?
No minimum for Referral or Embed. The API / white-label tier uses volume bands that are indicative until finalized per partner against real volume.
Does Pentonym provide legal advice?
No. Pentonym is a screening signal, not a law firm, and never provides legal services (ABA Model Rule 5.4). The legal work is done by an independent US attorney who bills the client directly.
How fast can we go live?
Sandbox key to your first live clearance call in under 30 minutes. The Embed tier is a drop-in widget or iFrame; the API tier is a single signed endpoint.