Brand Protection

Among the various brand protection services offered by Amazon, such as Transparency, an item-level tracing service to help protect against counterfeits, is Amazon Brand Registry. This is a suite of tools available to proactively protect and give more control to brands.

What is Amazon Brand Registry

Amazon’s Brand Registry has been improving over the past couple of years and now offers a variety of benefits for sellers seeking to enjoy an added layer of brand protection. Amazon Brand Registry “helps you protect your intellectual property and create an accurate and trusted experience for customers on Amazon.”

Among the benefits of the service are:

• Complete control over Amazon product pages;
• Search and report tools, simplifying the process of finding potential infringement;
• Predictive protections that identify and remove the listings of bad actors; and
• Dedicated support.

The search feature allows brands to search globally, including image and bulk ASIN search tools. Interestingly, the predictive protections leverage Amazon’s vast global reach and advanced algorithms to flag sellers who are using a brand’s logo, or who are shipping from locations different than that of the brand, or who attempt to list duplicative products. By some accounts, Amazon takes action on nearly 95% of all notices of potential infringement within eight hours.

How to Enroll in Amazon Brand Registry

In order to enroll in Amazon Brand Registry, a brand needs:

• An active registered trademark for the brand that appears on products or packing;
• The ability to verify the brand as the rights owner or the authorized agent for the trademark; and
• An Amazon account.

The requirement that takes the most time and has the most complexity is that of registering for trademark protection. This is a change from the prior version of the Amazon Brand Registry which did not require trademark registration.

Navigating Trademark Registration

Trademark registration often involves significant research to assess existing logos and the registrability of the logo to be applied for. After submitting an application, it can then take several months for the application to be assigned an examining attorney at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The examining attorney may approve the registration or issue actions against the application that often require a timely and appropriate response before approving the logo for registration.

Foundry Law Group offer services specifically tailored to companies interested in enrolling in Amazon Brand Registry and have worked with companies to successfully navigate the enrollment process. So if you are a seller interested in enhanced brand protection please contact us today to learn more about how we can get you up and running on Amazon Brand Registry.