Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Registering your products on Amazon: practical trademark considerations

In recent years, Amazon has become an important sales platform for the vast majority of companies involved in product sales. However, Amazon, like other virtual platforms, has often been criticized for being a convenient place to sell counterfeit products or products violating trademark rights. In order to better regulate the products sold and prevent illegal activities, Amazon has set up a trademark registry known as the Amazon Brand Registry (the "Registry").
While it has not yet been effective in completely deterring illegal activities, it is an additional tool that can be used to monitor trademark use.

The Registry system enables trademark owners to register their trademarks directly with Amazon. This allows trademark owners to better control the overall presentation of their products. It also gives them access to tools that facilitate the identification of—and speed the removal of — product advertisements that violate their trademark rights.
The Registry application process is entirely completed online. Owners must first indicate whether their trademark is nominative or figurative. It should be noted that figurative trademarks must comprise a nominative element in order to be accepted. Thus, trademarks that only consist of a logo, with no words, are not accepted. Next, images of the product, the packaging and the logo, if any, are required. The trademark should be predominantly displayed in these images. Finally, it is necessary to provide additional information concerning the characteristics of the product in question, including any related product categories and the countries of manufacture and distribution.

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