Blog Post

Several sellers on Amazon have used Amazon Brand Registry to combat the menace of counterfeits and to avail additional benefits to achieve success at Amazon e-marketplace.

Amazon Brand Registry

Amazon designed Brand Registry to enable sellers to protect their registered mark along with enhanced tools for marketing and brand management. It provides numerous benefits such as high ranking in search list, intellectual property violation reporting, etc. Brand registry is beneficial for startups as there are innumerable sellers on Amazon and it will enable startups to prevent infringement of their intellectual property.

Enrolment in Amazon Brand Registry

To enrol in Amazon Brand Registry, a seller must ensure that it meets the eligibility requirements. An applicant must have a registered Amazon account along with a registered and active text or image-based trademark in each country where the applicant intends to enrol. Amazon provides with the facility of Amazon IP Accelerator through which a seller can file a trademark application. Examples of trademarks accepted by Brand registry –

• Text based trademark

MICROSOFT

• Image-based trademark

Amazon Brand Registry is accepting trademarks issued by jurisdictions limited to United States, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Australia, India, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Singapore, Spain, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Sweden, the European Union, and the United Arab Emirates.  The trademark owner must submit an application to enrol in Brand Registry. He/she must provide the trademark, trademark registration number and the list of product categories (example – electronics, footwear, apparel, etc.) in which its brand should be listed. After the submission of the information, Amazon will verify the details with the contact mentioned in the trademark application. A verification code will be received by the owner/ trademark agent, and it must be sent back to Amazon to complete the enrolment process. Once the information is verified, the brand owner gets access to the benefits of Amazon Brand Registry.

Benefits of Amazon Brand Registry

1. Amazon Stores – It allows you to promote your products on your own multi-page store on Amazon. For instance, Apple has its own multi-page store where all their listed products can be viewed.
2. Enhanced brand content – A+ Content aids businesses to share their brand story and product features through rich text and images on Amazon page. It gives brand owners an enhanced control over brand content, product’s detail page which maximize visibility of the brand.
3. Sponsored Brands – It allows you to grow your brand with ads that features your logo, custom headlines for up to three of your products. Headline search ads appear above product search results. It will enable startups to promote their brand.
4. Amazon-issued product IDs – Sellers list their products using Amazon-issued product IDs [Global Catalog Identifier (GCID)]. This will save the cost of buying standard product identifiers.
5. High ranking in search list – Amazon prioritize the listing from registered brand above others. Increased visibility of the brand may result in increased sales. For instance, cookware by the brand Prestige will be listed above the cookware sold by unregistered brands.
6. Access to Proactive Reports – It offers reporting tools that simplifies managing and tracking your brand. For instance, the infringement issues will be tracked and monitored by Amazon and you can check if the infringing product has been removed.
7. Regulate counterfeits – The Amazon Brand Registry provides tools including Transparency and Project Zero which helps in regulating counterfeit products. For instance, a seller is selling generic electronic appliances and using brand name of Philips, Amazon will ensure speedy removal of the listing as it will mislead the consumers.
8. Prevent Intellectual Property Rights violations – It provides access to tools to identify infringers. You can find product listing that match your brand name or product via images. For instance, you come across a listing that is using your brand name without your authorisation, you can report it to Amazon and an action will be taken.

Conclusion

Due to the influx of sellers on e-commerce platforms, the liability of e-commerce platforms to combat counterfeits and prevent intellectual property rights violation has increased. It is imperative on the part of the brand owners to proactively protect their marks and report infringements. Amazon Brand Registry is a step forward to minimize counterfeits. It is beneficial for startups to enrol with the registry as it will provide them enhanced protection and allow them to enforce their rights.

AUthor 
Ankita Aseri with Priyank Gupta