Amazon’s New and Improved Brand Registry
These days owning your own business on Amazon — and proving the business is yours — is not as simple as one might think. In fact, it has become quite common on Amazon for competitors to usurp listings that do not belong to them and repurpose them to list their own counterfeit merchandise. The practice is unfair and filches money away from business owners. And righting this unscrupulous wrong? Well, it is a little more complicated than picking up the phone and shouting righteously at Amazon Support.
In the past when dealing with fraudulent sellers, Amazon has required business owners to issue a formal request for removal with its Seller Support team. It is a tiresome and lengthy process, and in some cases it can prove to be surprisingly difficult to prove legal ownership. As 2016 was a year especially rife with bogus listings, Amazon has addressed this issue head on with a brand new registry that allows companies to register their brands.
The new version of the brand registry system works as the nucleus for companies to register their brand on Amazon. Further, the requirements for brand registration eligibility has been made stricter, and Amazon recognizes trademarks in this new version.
Enrollment is open to manufacturers, brand owners, product distributors and resellers; approval must be given to sellers and distributors from the brand owners. Even if you have registered your brand previously, you will need to reapply. There will be no connectivity between the first and second version of the Brand Registry.
Be prepared to provide the following information to prove brand ownership:
- Details of registered trademarks
- URL of company / brand website
- Photos of brand logo on product packaging and products
While Brand Registry 2.0 is an improvement, it is not a catchall for preventing other sellers from selling your brand. What it will do is provide an extra layer of protection for your brand and greatly un-complicate the dispute process — which is a vast improvement for sellers.
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