If you are a brand owner, selling online on Amazon, enrolling to the Amazon Brand Registry is inevitable, if you would like to ensure, your Intellectual Property is protected online.
What is the Amazon Brand Registry Program?
The Amazon Brand Registry has been launched in December 2017 in Australia, in order to prevent the sale of counterfeit goods on Amazon. The Amazon Brand Registry is a mechanism dedicated to helping brand owners to identify and stop potential intellectual property rights infringement, and particularly trade mark infringement.
The Brand Registry uses the information provided by the brand owner to implement additional predictive protections.
The Amazon Brand Registry gives brand owner’s access to tools that enable them to more accurately represent their brand, find and report a violation, and share information that can help the platform to proactively prevent violations.
The program
· gives you control over pages, that use your brand name, so your brand is represented accurately,
· provides easy search and report tools to find any potential infringement of your brand online,
· offers access to automated protection, removing suspected infringing content,
· provides access to a dedicated internal amazon team for submitting and escalating issues for pro-active brand protection.
How can I enrol in the Amazon Brand Registry?
To be able to enrol in the Amazon Brand Registry Program, you require an active legal instrument to be able to properly enforce your rights in the brand.
You have to register a trade mark, as only a registered trade mark enables you to prevent any third from using your brand in an identical or deceptively similar way. Without a registered trade mark, you do not even own your brand.
The trade mark must be in the form of a text-based mark or an image-based mark with words, letters, or numbers.
Amazon currently only accepts trade marks registered in the United-States, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Australia, India, Japan, Turkey, Singapore, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and the United Arab Emirates.
The trade mark must be in the form of a text-based mark or an image-based mark with words, letters, or numbers.
To enrol the brand, the brand owner must provide the platform with:
– The brand name that has an active registered trade mark
– The associated trade mark number
– The list of product categories (e.g., apparel, software), in which the brand should be listed.
– A list of countries where the brand’s products are manufactured and distributed.
If the brand owner satisfies the eligibility requirements, the next step is to sign into the Brand Registry. The latter can use his Vendor or Seller current account to sign in, using the same username and password, or create a new Amazon account for free.
Do I need a Trade Mark in each country I want to enrol in?
This is correct. You must have a registered trade mark in each country, where you wish to enrol. Ensure to plan ahead and talk to your Intellectual Property consultant about how to successfully register your brand in all relevant jurisdictions. Keep in mind that the registration process can take several months.
How do I register a Trade Mark?
Access to the Amazon Brand Registry is just one of the benefits of registering your brand as a trade mark.
A registered trade mark:
– allows you to take legal action against those who use an identical or deceptively similar mark,
– ensures no third party has a claim against for alleged infringement of their mark,
– increases the value of your brand (Apple, Google, Microsoft wouldn’t be of such a high value without valid protection as trade marks.) and creates an intangible asset, that contributes directly to the value of your business.
This is how the registration process works:
- Completion of due diligence similarity/ identity searches in all relevant trade mark databases of all designated jurisdiction,
- Drafting and Filing of an application with the Trade Mark Office in the respective jurisdiction (e.g. Australia, European Union, USA),
WITH THE FILING DATE (renewal required after 10 years from filing, no shorter registration period is available for a trade mark) you are then entitled to use your mark with TM in the right-hand corner ™.
- Some time (varies between 3 business days and 5 months, depending on the jurisdiction) after filing, you receive a Notification of Filing from the Trade Mark Office of the designated jurisdiction.
- The application will then have to wait in order to be examined by the Trade Mark Office of the respective jurisdiction.
- After the examination is finalised, you will receive a Notice of Acceptance (if your mark is eligible for registration) or a Trade Mark Report (if the Trade Mark Office detected possible obstacles to registration).
- The trade mark’s acceptance is advertised in Trade Mark Journal of the designated jurisdiction.
- Once the opposition period expires, without any opposition being lodged, you will receive the Trade Mark Registration Certificate from the Trade Mark Office of the designated jurisdiction.
- You can commence using your mark with R in a circle in the right-hand corner ®.
- Your mark is now registered and you are the owner of it.
TRADE MARK INFORMATION
In order to process your trade mark application, the Trade Mark Office requires the following information:
– the full name of the applicant ( individual(s) or company),
– a street address or P.O. Box address,
– a short description of the goods/ services, offered under the brand and
– the brand name and/ or the logo in jpg file format (if applicable).
If you are currently seeking to enrol your brand in the Amazon Brand Register, do not hesitate to contact us so can advise you accurately and assist you in that procedure. We also provide international trade mark registration services. Contact us today and protect your brand in all relevant jurisdictions around the globe.
