The most common problem with selling your goods online is that some third person might copy your goods and sell fake goods under your trademark. This will affect your brand name and bring down its popularity among the consumers. Therefore it is very important to ensure that no one is using your brand name without your knowledge or permission. While there might not be a foolproof method to ensure that this never happens, the Amazon Brand Registry at least tries to reduce the occurrence of trademark infringement.
What is Amazon Brand Registry?
The Amazon brand registry gives you access to tools that enable you to more accurately represent your brand on the online platform. It is a program that is designed to give brand owners increased control of their products on amazon. In May 2017, Amazon launched the new and improved Amazon registry that helps brand owners protect their registered trademarks. It also allows for proactive brand protection by the owners. This means that the brand owners can actively participate in removing material that infringes on their trademark.
What is the process to enroll for Amazon Brand Registry?
In order to enroll, there are three simple steps:
1. Check your eligibility
2. Sign into Amazon Brand Registry Website
3. Enroll Your Brand
Step 1- Check Your Eligibility:
The first step to enrolling your brand on ABR is to check if you meet the eligibility criteria.
In order to be eligible to enroll for amazon registry you must have:
i) A registered and active trademark. The trademark may be a wordmark or a design/logo mark, with words, letters, or numbers. The trademark must be registered and active in each country where you wish to enroll. The trademark text must match the brand name on the application;
ii) The trademark must appear on your products or packaging;
iii) You must be able to verify yourself as the trademark owner;
iv) You must have an amazon account. If you don’t already have one, you can create one for free.
Step 2- Sign in to Amazon Brand Registry
If you meet all the required eligibility criteria, the next step is for you to sign in to the Amazon Seller Brand Registry. If you are a vendor or seller on Amazon you can use the same vendor or seller central credentials to sign in. If you don’t have an account you can create one for free.
Step 3- Enroll Your Brand
The final step is to enroll your brand by providing the following information:
a) Your brand name that has a registered and active trademark
b) The trademark registration number provided by the Intellectual Property Office
c) A list of product categories in which your brand should be listed
d) A list of countries where your brand’s products are manufactured and distributed.
After you submit the above information, amazon will verify whether you are the rights owner of the trademark. After verification, you will get a verification code. You have to send this code back to amazon in order to complete the enrollment process. After this, you will have complete access to all the features of the Amazon brand registry.
What are the benefits of Amazon Brand Registry?
There are numerous benefits to enrolling to amazon brand registry:
- Accurate Brand Representation
Once you enroll in the Amazon brand registry website you will have more control over your brand’s product listings across Amazon. The website gives you access to tools that enable you to more accurately represent your brand. You can decide how you want your product to be represented. You will also have a direct influence on the detail pages.
- Powerful Search Tools
The Amazon website also gives you access to advanced search tools that enable you to find content easily across the amazon website. You can search for content using images or keywords. After you finish your search amazon will provide you with simple and guided workflows to submit a report of potential infringement. Once you submit the report, Amazon will review the report and take appropriate action, if necessary.
- Proactive Brand Protection
Amazon brand registry has automated protections that use information about your brand to automatically remove suspected infringing and inaccurate content. This is probably the most important benefit as it helps protect your brand and trademark from being infringed. It proactively prevents violations. The more information you give amazon brand registry, the more amazon can help you in protecting your brand. For example, if some third party is selling different products using your trademark, the Amazon brand registry will automatically remove the infringers’ products.
- Lesser Chances of Trademark Infringement
Given the fact that you have access to advanced search tools and that the Amazon brand registry itself will automatically remove inaccurate and infringing content, the chances of your trademark being infringed are a lot lesser. Moreover, brand owners and manufacturers can expedite the process of removing fake or inaccurate and unauthentic products from their listing as they can easily prove to amazon that they are the trademark owners. There are also lesser chances of counterfeit issues and situations where product content is changed by a third party seller.
Amazon Brand Registry is therefore a genius program that offers numerous important benefits to manufacturers and brand owners. It helps trademark owners retain confidence on the online platform. It also helps the customers have an accurate and trusted experience. The Amazon brand registry reduces the chances of intellectual property rights violations and promotes an accurate representation of your brand on the online platform.
