Did you know that well over half a million brands sell their products on Amazon? It’s a staggering number that serves as a testament to the online retailer’s power and pull, but it also means that sellers have to work harder to gain (and maintain) a competitive edge. The e-commerce company is the largest in the world because customers want to shop on the platform and brands want to have their products sold on it.
Amazon’s mounting popularity has inspired it to incorporate strategies that protect all of those interacting with the business, particularly the very brands who use the marketplace to sell and promote their goods. The Amazon Brand Registry is one tool that Amazon offers to help businesses protect their intellectual property and mitigate lawsuits arising from alleged intellectual property violations, including counterfeit products.
What is the Amazon Brand Registry?
Back in May of 2017, Amazon launched its new-and-improved Amazon Brand Registry, a model that the e-commerce company has continued to expand. The Amazon Brand Registry is a voluntary archive of the current brands selling on the marketplace. It was originally developed so that the company could keep better track of any possible intellectual property infringement, issues with active listings, violations to company policy, and even technical issues.
Screenshot via Amazon Brand Services
Since its implementation, the Amazon Brand Registry has become a ‘one-stop-shop’ for brands selling on the online marketplace, big and small. The initial creation served as a signal that the company was taking intellectual property violations seriously, but it has also become a centralized help feature for those who depend on the platform’s hosting features the most.
How to Get Listed on the Amazon Brand Registry
To get listed in the Amazon Brand Registry, a brand must have an active registered trademark in the country in which they want to enroll. The first step is to submit the requested information to the company via the enrollment process detailed in Amazon’s Brand Services section.
Here is the information that all brands must possess and submit prior to being considered for the Registry:
- Double-check the active registered trademark: All brands listed on the Amazon Brand Registry are required to hold an active registered trademark in every country that they wish to enroll. Currently, Amazon is only accepting active trademarks that have been issued in trademarks offices in the following countries: United States, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Australia, India, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. It also accepts trademarks issued by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
- Submit the trademark: To successfully submit the trademark to the Amazon Brand Registry, all must be in the form of text-based marks or image-based marks with words, letters, or numbers. Brands that hold a trademark from WIPO must submit the number registered with its country’s IPO office, as WIPO numbers can vary.
- Sign in to the Amazon Brand Registry: Once all trademark information has been compiled and verified by the brand, existing vendors and sellers can sign into their given Brand Registry using the Vendor or Seller credentials. If a brand is new to the platform, they must sign up for an Amazon account prior to joining the Registry.
- Enroll: Upon sign in, the brand will then be asked to provide the following information: 1) the brand name which holds the active trademark, 2) the associated government-registered trademark number, 3) the full list of product categories under which the brand should be listed, 4) the full list of countries where the brand is manufactured and/or distributed.
- Verify: The moment Amazon receives the brand information, it will begin its verification process. If all checks out, the brand will then be contacted by the company and given a verification code which ultimately provides access to the full suite of the Amazon Brand Registry’s benefits.
Benefits of the Amazon Brand Registry
For the eligible vendors and sellers operating on the bustling e-commerce marketplace, the Amazon Brand Registry provides several important benefits. As mentioned, Amazon’s aim in creating and expanding the Registry is to better protect the brands selling on its platform from becoming victims of intellectual property infringement, trademark violations, and more. By getting listed in the Amazon Brand Registry, you’ll also be able to take advantage of features such as Headline Search Ads, which are only available to registered sellers.
The company promotes the Registry as a centralized zone in which technical issues are solved and further issues are reported. This is achieved through a powerful search tool option which makes it simple for brands to see whether they have been victimized. Once part of the Registry, brands have access to the tool which allows for image, global, and bulk ASIN searches of the entire vendor and seller catalog, an instrument that detects similar logos, products, and more.
With the information provided by brands for the Registry, it also gives Amazon the necessary information to develop and hone predictive preventions that are built to protect registered brands’ IP. The company says that, with the data listed in the registry, it can more easily identify contradicting conflicting logos/brand names, sellers shipping products from areas that are not within the trademark region, and products that aren’t associated with the matching product catalog.
Clearly, the Amazon Brand Registry is a fitting choice for qualified vendors and sellers who are serious about protecting their valuable IP. By participating in the program, brands are also making a difference in the wider e-commerce marketplace community by strengthening the very processes designed to safeguard it.
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