What is Amazon Brand Registry?
Brand owners work hard to protect their intellectual property (IP), including their trademarked brands. Amazon has recently become one of the largest companies in the world by providing a marketplace for sellers and buyers to come together for mutual benefit. However, with such a large and diverse online market, it can be difficult for customers to discern which products are authentic. It can also be difficult for brand owners to prevent unauthorized sales of their products. Amazon states that it has a commitment to brand protection and to be a place “where people can find and discover the widest possible selection of authentic goods.” One significant way that Amazon protects brands and trademarks is through the Amazon Brand Registry.
Sellers with a registered trademark may be eligible to enroll in the Amazon Brand Registry, which will help them protect their brand and prevent others from infringing on their intellectual property rights. Amazon Brand Registry also allows brand-owner sellers on Amazon to access a range of enhancements to better market their products on Amazon and track metrics associated with the products being sold.
Who can apply for enrollment in Brand Registry?
The primary eligibility requirement is ownership of a trademark registration in the country where the seller desires to register with Amazon. Therefore, the first step to enrolling with the Brand Registry is to file for and obtain a trademark with the respective country’s trademark office, if not already done. The lawyers at TraskBritt are experts at navigating the process for obtaining a trademark both domestically and internationally. They can help businesses obtain proper protection for trademarks and other kinds of intellectual property.
After obtaining approval and registration of a trademark, the owner of the trademark may enroll in the Amazon Brand Registry. Trademark owners may also give written permission to distributors, resellers, and other agents to manage a product’s detail page on Amazon using the Brand Registry program.
Why enroll in the Brand Registry?
Amazon’s Project Zero, a branch of Amazon brand protection services, uses a multi-faceted approach to prevent the sale of counterfeit products. The different aspects of the program include automated protections, self-service counterfeit removal, and product serialization.
Amazon’s automated system, which is available to those on the Amazon Brand Registry, strives to find counterfeit products and prevent them from being sold on the site. However, the burden for brand protection strategy still largely falls on the brand owner to report violations. The more violations reported, the better the system learns how to detect and take down counterfeits without manual input from the brand owner. This type of proactive brand management is an important benefit afforded to registered brand owners.
Another example of additional protection for registered brand owners is access to a dedicated team at Amazon that responds to IP infringement claims in an expedited manner. While this does not guarantee complete prevention of false products hitting the Amazon marketplace, it is yet another avenue that Amazon has provided its brand-owner sellers to prevent illegitimate sales. Registered brand-owner sellers who qualify for Project Zero can themselves remove illegitimate listings without contacting Amazon to have the listing removed.
Brand-owner sellers can apply a unique serial code to their products, allowing Amazon to scan and verify the product’s authenticity before it ever reaches the customer. Customers can also use these codes to verify that their received product is not a counterfeit.
Another important benefit is the legitimization of the brand on Amazon’s site. Registered brand owners have greater control over the listing of their products on Amazon, with the possibility to add images, videos, and storefronts to the listings and search results of their products.
Amazon Brand Registry Requirements
To be eligible for the Amazon Brand Registry, brands must have a registered text-based trademark which must appear on all products and/or packaging. Applicants should include images of the logo/trademark and the products and packaging that carry the registered brand name. Amazon will then verify the owner of the trademark, giving the new registrant access to the full suite of benefits and features of the Brand Registry.
Post enrollment: What’s next?
Once a Brand Registry account is set up, a brand-owner seller has more control over its product listings. For example, a brand-owner seller can set up their own Amazon store with a customized display and add “A+ Content,” which includes additional images and text beyond the standard text-based listing. Sponsored brand ads allow advertisements in search results for related products. Brand Analytics is a tool that Amazon provides to registered brand-owner sellers to help them better understand customers, search terms, and purchase information.
Registering a trademark with Amazon Brand Registry is likely very worthwhile, as there is no cost to enrolling in the registry and brand-owner sellers receive several tools to protect their brands.
For questions on further protecting your trademarks and other intellectual property, get in contact with one of the lawyers at Traskbritt today.