Brand registry Archives - Riverbend Consulting

Don’t file IP complaints if your seller account will benefit

By: Lesley Hensell

Third-party sellers who have close relationships with brands may be putting themselves at risk, if they are using Amazon Brand Registry in a way that Amazon doesn’t like, causing them to file an infringement report.

A recent review of Amazon’s Code of Conduct for sellers reveals this tidbit: Filing Infringement Reports as an Agent or Brand Protection Agency

Amazon understands that many brands may choose to have brand protection agencies or agents report intellectual property infringement on their behalf and accepts submissions from authorized agents.

However, Amazon does not permit individuals with active selling accounts to file infringement notices as an agent of a brand when the filing of those notices could benefit their own selling account (through removing competing listings, for example). Any sellers filing notices as an agent to benefit their own status as a seller may have their selling account terminated.

This is one of those easy-to-overlook bits and pieces of policy that can go completely unnoticed. It also attempts to draw a bright line in situations where sellers may be doing absolutely nothing wrong – but Amazon doesn’t care.

So what’s going on here?

In some cases, brand owners choose a third-party seller as their preferred reseller on Amazon.com. These brand owners may not want to be involved in the day-to-day mechanics of selling on the platform. They simply want a familiar storefront they trust to be the face of their products on Amazon.

Brand owners have ownership of their Amazon Brand Registry, but they can allow others to act as “agents.” These agents can take actions such as editing listings, uploading photos, and reporting counterfeiters and other infringers.

Amazon has decided that it’s fine to use an agent to report intellectual property violations – such as those for counterfeit, trademark, copyright and patent. But the reporting party cannot be a third-party seller who is also selling on the ASIN in question.

Wow, that’s confusing

Frankly, this makes little to no sense. Why?

Well, in many cases, brand owners big and small also sell their own products on Amazon.com. They use brand registry to manage their listings and report infringers.

So Amazon has decided that a brand owner who sells on a specific ASIN can report infringers on that ASIN. But third-party sellers who are trusted agents of the brand cannot. In the end, the effect is the exact same.

I can hazard one guess as to this hazy enforcement decision. If a brand files false infringement reports, the brand can lose its selling privileges (if it’s also a third-party seller) or its brand registry privileges. Perhaps Amazon doesn’t have an adequate enforcement mechanism to specifically punish an agent that goes rogue and files false reports.

Yet, if that agent is a third-party seller, wouldn’t it be easy enough to suspend their account? Inquiring minds want to know.

Where do we go from here?

If you represent a brand on Amazon and manage their ABR as an agent, you have a few options:

When you spot infringers on the brand’s listings, report it to the brand. They can report it from there.
Hire an agency or law firm to file your ABR infringement reports. If they are also an agent on ABR, Amazon will not know the genesis of the reports about infringement.
Most importantly, only file genuine infringement reports. ABR is not a cudgel to be used for mass actions against competing sellers. It should only be used to knock others off of listings in true cases of infringement. Do test buys. Research. Inspect the products you receive. Be responsible. Brand Registry is not there to limit competition or distribution. It’s there to keep bad actors off of your listings.

Have questions? Ask Riverbend Consulting or give us a call! 877-289-1017

Lesley is co-founder and co-owner of Riverbend Consulting, where she oversees the firm's client services team. She has personally helped hundreds of third-party sellers get their accounts and ASINs back up and running. Lesley leverages two decades as a small business consultant to advise clients on profitability and operational performance. She has been an Amazon seller for almost a decade, thanks to her boys (18 and 13) who do most of the heavy lifting.

Many brands are clueless about the damage they do with IP complaints and fake claims

By: Lesley Hensell

The number of account suspensions for alleged intellectual property (IP) violations on Amazon continues to skyrocket. There are several reasons this is so. But perhaps one of the most disturbing of these is a complete lack of understanding by brands that they are destroying small businesses. Last week, a lawyer called me. He wanted to discuss a pending lawsuit between a past client I worked with and a brand that helped get them suspended from Amazon. As we discussed the issues in the case, I found myself being sucked into a vortex of nonsense.

The lawyer laughed. “It’s insane,” he said. “What makes a seller think they can win this kind of lawsuit against a brand?” This attorney truly believes what he was saying. His client agrees. And in my opinion, they couldn’t be more wrong.

Anatomy of a lawsuit

For the purposes of this blog, let’s call my past client Acme. Acme was a pretty good-sized seller. In addition, he had quite a few IP complaints in his scorecard, mostly for trademark infringement. In my view, these IP complaints were likely all false and an attempt by the brand owner to control distribution. My client did not sell fake goods, nor did he list on the wrong ASIN. He had high-quality sourcing.

My client listed a product we shall call Supplement. He purchased Supplement from a large distributor. The product was real, with a perfect chain of custody.

One day, the maker of Supplement received a phone call or email to their customer care department. In this communication, a buyer stated they received an expired unit of Supplement that they purchased from someone on Amazon. This buyer did not give the name of the Amazon seller who sold the expired product to them.

The maker of Supplement had brand registry. They logged into their brand registry account and promptly reported every single seller of Supplement for IP infringement/counterfeit. My client was one of those sellers, and his account was deactivated by Amazon.

The seller fights back

Ultimately, Acme was reactivated. The company is now actively selling on Amazon. But they lost significant sales on Amazon during their suspension. Acme decided to sue the brand owner of Supplement for:

Tortious interference. Essentially, this claim asserts that the brand owner wrongly and intentionally interfered in the business relationship between Amazon and Acme.
Slander. By stating that Acme was selling counterfeit merchandise, the brand owner slandered the company as a lawbreaker and someone whom nobody should engage in business with.

Here’s where the lawyer’s dismissive comments enter the picture. The attorney for Supplement brand said the entire lawsuit was ridiculous on its face and would never result in an award for Acme.

During our conversation, I pushed back.

“You do realize counterfeiting merchandise is a crime,” I said. “If Supplement had filed an IP claim for trademark or copyright infringement, that claim wouldn’t have been true, either. But calling the product counterfeit raises this to an entirely new level. It was unethical, wrong and puts Acme at risk.”

The lawyer disagreed and then blamed Amazon, rather than his client.

“Supplement had no idea that something like this could happen,” he claimed. “They were just trying to stop the problem.”

Amazon’s culpability

And there, my friend, is where Amazon’s blame lies in all this. Because the platform must enforce IP complaints, it has erred on the side of ease for brands. Simply report a problem, and the listing is closed.

Unfortunately, many brand owners don’t seem to comprehend the seriousness of making false reports. And these reports are made – in abundance – every day:

Brands trying to control distribution lie about IP violations
Brands concerned about product quality report all sellers on a listing instead of pinpointing bad actors
Brands rely on lawyers or services to report “bad actor” sellers on their listings, which often results in authorized sellers being reported as well
Brands don’t recognize storefront names of their authorized sellers and report them
Brands don’t bother conducting test buys and just call everything “counterfeit”

At the same time, many brand owners honestly don’t understand how enforcement works at Amazon. They likely believe – like Supplement – that their report will only result in a single ASIN being blocked in a seller’s account. They don’t realize that false reports could result in account suspension, permanent closure, destruction of inventory and permanent holding of funds by Amazon.

Should brands have control over their products on Amazon? Brands definitely have cause for concern when their products are counterfeited, sold past expiration dates, sold in terrible condition, bundled in strange combinations, etc. All of these circumstances damage brand equity and dilute value.

But at the same time, making false claims of criminal behavior is problematic. And at least a few companies like Acme are going to see if they can help the IP pendulum swing the other way.

Concerned about your account, no matter the size, we can help put your mind at ease. Call Riverbend Consulting at 877-289-1017

Brand registry

Agents in Amazon Brand Registry should tread carefully

Don’t file IP complaints if your seller account will benefit

By: Lesley Hensell

So what’s going on here?

Wow, that’s confusing

Where do we go from here?

The other side of IP complaints against Amazon sellers

Many brands are clueless about the damage they do with IP complaints and fake claims

By: Lesley Hensell

Anatomy of a lawsuit

The seller fights back

Amazon’s culpability

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