Amazon Brand Registry: Why SA brand owners should enroll their brands

The recent arrival of Amazon in South Africa is a significant moment for local South African businesses and customers seeking to tap into the international e-commerce world, providing access to thousands of products not previously available to South Africans. As one of the world’s largest online marketplaces, Amazon also offers vendors access to a global customer base, providing a platform to showcase their brands and products on an international scale.

Amazon Brand Registry: How it works?

The Amazon Brand Registry is a programme designed to serve brand owners by ensuring that they are able to police infringement of their intellectual property rights within the ever-growing Amazon marketplace. It provides a platform for vendors to enrol their brands, together will relevant trade mark information, to ensure  brand integrity, with a view to combatting counterfeiting and grey goods. The Amazon Brand Registry also provides vendors with access to data and insights about their products’ performance on Amazon, including sales metrics, customer feedback and product reviews, which helps vendors make informed business decisions and optimize their commercialisation strategies.

One of the major benefits which the Amazon Brand Registry offers is that it empowers brand owners to exercise greater control over their brand presence and police infringement of their intellectual property by providing access to proprietary text and image searches on the platform. This feature enables brand owners to search Amazon’s product catalogues for any potential IP infringements by third parties. Amazon will “scan” its product catalogues and identify any products or even product variations that are substantially similar to the original image or text. In turn, the brand owner will be notified of any potential infringement.

A further benefit which the Amazon Brand Registry offers is the predictive automation mechanism, which uses advanced machine learning to implement what is known as “predictive protections”.  Brand owners supply information about their brand, products or intellectual property and using machine learning techniques, Amazon then blocks potentially infringing products from being listed.

The Amazon Brand Registry further equips brand owners with the means to monitor and manage their brand assets internally through their own dashboards to exercise control over the way in which their trade marks are used. Using these tools, brand owners can swiftly identify unauthorised sellers, counterfeit products and instances of IP infringement. The Amazon Brand Registry serves as an instrument for promoting collaboration between brand owners and Amazon itself by offering streamlined channels for reporting intellectual property violations.  Brand owners can effectively communicate with Amazon’s enforcement teams directly, which facilitates prompt action against infringing product listings. This collaborative approach not only expedites the removal of counterfeit or infringing products but also enhances the overall trust and credibility of the Amazon marketplace, a win for the brand owner, Amazon and consumers.

Requirements for enrolling your brand on the Amazon Brand Registry

To enrol your brand with Amazon, brand owners will be required to provide Amazon with the following documentation or information:

• A trade mark registration or trade mark application South Africa or in another country recognised for participation in the programme);
• Evidence of the trade mark(s) permanently affixed to the product(s) or their packaging; and
• A comprehensive list of categories in which the product(s) would fall.

Note that the trade marks eligible for enrolment must be the subject of a registration or an  application for registration, issued by a designated government office of a participating country.

These are:

Process for enrolling your brand 

Brand Enrolment: The brand owner will be required to submit the following information on the Amazon Brand Registry at https://brandservices.amazon.com/brandregistry/eligibility:

• Brand Details: Enter the trade mark and select the appropriate trade mark office. In the case of a local trade mark registration/application, the office will be South Africa – Companies and Intellectual Property Commission – CIPC.
• Trade mark Information: Input the relevant trade mark application/registration number(s) and upload high-resolution images for device marks.
• Product Information: Upload high-resolution photos of the relevant product(s) bearing the trade marks and select the categories to which the product(s) belong, eg
• Selling Account Information: Provide details about the relevant selling account, including vendor/seller information and any other official websites associated with the brand.
• Manufacturing and Distribution Details: Select the countries where the brand owner sells its products and confirm whether it licenses the trade mark(s) to others who manufacture products associated with the intellectual property.

Submitting the Application: Review all the information provided and submit your application.

• Verification Code: Amazon Brand Registry will email a verification code to the trade mark correspondent (address for service) cited on the relevant Trade Mark Register for the trade mark(s). The brand owner must ensure that it submits the verification code to Amazon within 10 days. If the brand owner is a self-filer, it must make sure that it’s contact details are correctly reflected on the Trade Mark Register.
• Application Review and Approval: Await the review and approval of the application by Amazon Brand Registry.
• Access Granted: Once approved, the brand owner can add trade mark registrations/applications granted by or filed through other trade mark offices, to further enhance the brand’s protection.

By following these steps, brand owners can navigate the enrolment process seamlessly and leverage the benefits of Amazon Brand Registry to safeguard their intellectual property rights effectively.

In essence, the Amazon Brand Registry has emerged as a vital tool for brand owners, offering an effective framework to police infringement of its intellectual property rights and foster brand integrity in the e-commerce landscape.

You can contact us if you require any assistance or guidance in relation to this registration process.