Trademarks Required for Amazon Stores
Why does Amazon require a registered trademark to set up an Amazon store? The answer is trust. As the world's largest marketplace, Amazon depends on both buyers and sellers to participate in a way that creates trust so they keep coming back. They clearly have a great deal of trust from buyers, which is why Amazon has over 150 Million Prime subscribers. That massive audience is why businesses want to sell on Amazon. To keep those buyers coming back, Amazon needs to have great stuff for sale, and that means products from great brands that its customers recognize. What those brands worry about in a marketplace this powerful is losing control of their reputation and relationship with consumers. With over 150 million Prime customers ready to “Buy now with one-Click®️”, it can be easy for merchants to offer counterfeit goods, or knockoffs, and other products that buyers mistakenly believe come from those great brands. This kind of confusion can dilute, blur, or tarnish a brand by associating inferior products with the mark, and enabling freeriding where a well-known brand’s reputation is exploited to sell another merchant’s goods.
To make successful and growing brands feel secure offering their products on the platform, Amazon created its Brand Registry, which “create[s] an accurate and trusted experience for [the brand’s] customers on Amazon” and gives brands tools to “to identify and remove potentially bad listings.” Rather than set up their own proprietary system for validating that a seller has a right to use and enforce its brand, Amazon relies on the robust legal infrastructure of the US Patent and Trademark Office. To enroll in Amazon’s Brand Registry “[b]rands must have a registered and active text (word mark) or image-based trademark (design mark). This trademark must also appear on your products or packaging.” They further clarify that the registered mark must a) include words (so you can’t just submit a graphics mark that does not identify the name of your product), b) match what appears on the product/store’s packaging, and c) appear on the “primary register,” which is the highest level of protection afforded by the USPTO and gives the holder exclusive rights to use a mark on the relevant goods and services.
That may sound like a lot of MBA marketing speak and legal jargon, but it's really there to protect a brand’s investment and hard work to create a great reputation with its customers. If you are interested in selling on Amazon or other large platforms, the more successful you become, the more you will welcome those protections.
If you need to register a trademark for an Amazon store or to protect your brand, Blackgarden Law has the expertise, experience, and industry knowledge to help you achieve success. Don’t hesitate to call if you have any questions or need a consultation.