AMAZON SELLERS

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As of November 2020, Amazon has loosened its requirements for getting onto the Amazon Brand Registry.  Instead of requiring sellers to take a federal trademark registration, Amazon merely requires a federal trademark application to have been filed on a brand name in order to qualify for the Amazon Brand Registry (for some sellers.)

Because of its popularity, trademark infringers, product counterfeiters, listing hijackers and others go on to be a major problem throughout the Amazon marketplace. Recently, Amazon rolled out their latest version of the Amazon Brand Registry, a registry only available to federally registered trademark owners in theU.s., Canada, United mexican states, India, Japan, France, Germany, Italian republic, Spain, the United Kingdom, and theEu.

According to Amazon, the Amazon Make Registry:

[P]rovides access to powerful tools including proprietary text and epitome search, predictive automation based on your reports of suspected intellectual property rights violations, and increased authorization over product listings with your make name.

Amazon encourages sellers to "enroll now and so your brand and Amazon tin work together to reduce potential intellectual property rights violations and promote an authentic representation of your brand on Amazon."

This manufactures explores the bug Amazon sellers demand to know, such every bit:

  • Why Amazon's Current Make Registry Requirements Will Probable Change Soon
  • How Long Does It Have To Register a Trademark in the United states of america?
  • How Practise I Register My Trademarks?
  • New Amazon Brand Registry Trademark Requirements for Existing Amazon Sellers
  • How to Start Your Trademark Filing Now

Why Amazon'south Current Brand Registry Requirements Will Likely Change Soon

Amazon works with hundreds of thousands of different brands as one of the largest online retailers in the United States. As a issue, it gets thousands of complaints every 24-hour interval from sellers regarding counterfeits, infringement, and other legal bug. For its Brand Registry, Amazon is currently requiring only a trademark application exist filed (as opposed to having a registered trademark in-hand).  This policy is likely to be exploited by counterfeiters and other fraudulent sellers on Amazon'due south platform.  As soon as Amazon and the public discover the fraud that is probable to run rampant nether the new policy, we expect Amazon to go dorsum to requiring a trademark be registered to proceeds access to a programme such as the brand registry.

This is because a trademark registration is awarded just after a government chaser (called an "examining attorney") reviews the application and the information provided.  It takes a lot of effort to be awarded a trademark registration past the USPTO.  Information technology is a process that will weed out many counterfeiters and fraud artists.

How Long Does It Accept To Annals a Trademark in the Us?

Information technology will take at least 9 months from start to finish to obtain a trademark registration.

The most important date (for trademark registration) is the engagement y'all file the application. Everyone else who files for a similar trademark later y'all will have to wait in line backside you lot. Once filed, a trademark application waits about three months before a regime attorney (called an Examining Attorney) reviews the application. If approved, and then the government volition publish the application "for opposition" in about three months. If no one opposes the trademark application, it will annals in an additional three months.

At that place is one exception to this "9 month" dominion – you lot may be able to file a "Petition to Brand Special," which is a petition to the Director of the USPTO's office request them to expedite the initial review of the trademark. There is additional costs and will only reduce the "start phase" shown above – the time it takes for a regime attorney to review the application, likely reducing the processing time by most two months. To take advantage of this, you lot must be actively dealing with infringers – the USPTO will non grant a Petition to Make Special solely because you want to register on the Amazon Make Registry.

In one case you've decided to file an application, it is crucial that you do the registration process correctly. In some circumstances, if you brand mistakes on your application, yous will accept no choice only to re-file and outset from scratch.

How Do I Register My Trademarks?

Trademark registration is more than than just filling out a grade. Despite what many "do-it-yourself" services and ultra-depression-toll attorney services may claim, in that location are dozens and dozens of legal decisions being made, all of which could have a huge impact on your trademark rights. Fifty-fifty small-scale errors tin can hateful months of delays in the registration of your make with the Amazon Brand Registry and can hurt your trademark rights.

Here are the recommended steps to register a trademark:

Stride 1: Trademark Search and Clearance

Every trademark owner needs to know what is already being used in the market place. Without having an experienced professional perform a comprehensive search, a trademark possessor may be opening him or herself up to a meaning amount of liability. You may apply for a trademark and find that there is already a competitor using a similar trademark. Y'all may obtain the registration, only to find out that someone else in the marketplace has been using it longer. Both of these scenarios can pb to the denial of your trademark registration and potentially a demand that you cease using the trademark completely.

A comprehensive trademark search volition await at everything that is already registered with United States Patent and Trademark Part or used in the market to determine whether someone else is already using a trademark that is like in sight, sound, meaning, or overall commercial impression.

Step 2: Drafting the Awarding

This stride is crucial, especially for Amazon'south Brand Registry. If you incorrectly draft the application, even if you successfully obtain a trademark registration, Amazon may all the same deny your application for the Brand Registry.

Example of Common Amazon Seller Pit-Fall

An Amazon seller applies to register its trademark for cell telephone cases and it successfully registers. However, information technology is selling cell phone cables on Amazon. Amazon may non take the applicant'south Amazon Brand Registry application because the registration does non match the appurtenances being sold on Amazon.

Questions?

Amazon now accepts both word marks and logo, but the written portions of the trademark should match the trademark the seller is using on Amazonexactlyfor the same goods and services being sold on Amazon.

Step 3: Prosecuting the Application

Once the application is drafted and submitted, it will accept at to the lowest degree ix months (meet to a higher place) to obtain a registration. At various stages, the USPTO may demand responses to inquiries or other concerns that require your attention. If you miss a borderline and permit the application to abandon, then you lot could gamble having to re-file the entire application.

Step 4: Signing Up for the Amazon Brand Registry

Once the trademark awarding registers, yous will exist sent a trademark registration certificate and will be issued a trademark registration number. Your document volition announced online at tsdr.uspto.gov (using your series number to look information technology up.) You lot can and then submit your data to Amazon through the online portal here. Amazon volition crave the following data:

  • Your full trademark (as it appears on the product or product packaging – it must match how the trademark appears on your trademark registration)
  • Your U.S. Trademark Registration Number
  • Confirmation that this is a "word marking" (non a logo)
  • Images of whatsoever logos using the trademark
  • Images of products and packaging that carry the trademark
  • A list of product categories (e.g., apparel, sporting goods, electronics) in which the make should be listed.
  • A list of countries where the make's products are manufactured and distributed.
    Amazon will then ship us, your attorneys of tape, a confirmation code. We will promptly send y'all the confirmation code to complete the registration for the Make Registry.

New Amazon Make Registry Trademark Requirements for Existing Amazon Sellers

If you lot signed up for the Amazon Make Registry before Apr 30, 2017, y'all will demand to re-enroll in the new Amazon Make Registry programme with a registered trademark.

How to Start Your Trademark Filing Now

The Amazon Brand Registry is an exciting new programme and some other great reason to register your trademarks as soon as possible. Withal, do-information technology-yourself services and ultra-depression-cost filing services often do not provide the personalized experience y'all would get from hiring an experienced trademark chaser. There are many pitfalls and issues that can come upwards when drafting and filing a trademark application and having an experienced chaser to help avert issues tin can be the deviation between a trademark registration and a denial. Contact the experienced attorneys at Gerben Constabulary Firm today for a complimentary consultation.