Since its founding in 1995, Amazon has become a corporate superpower that is known globally as both an aggressive innovator and an industry disruptor.[i] The company is responsible for groundbreaking developments in the areas of supply chain management[ii], cloud computing[iii], and online retailing.[iv] It is difficult to conjure even one product or service that has not been impacted by Amazon in some fashion, and the legal services industry is no exception. 

With the launch of its Brand Registry 1.0 in 2015 and 2.0 in 2017, Amazon has assumed the role of intellectual property rights enforcer and now works directly with its third-party sellers to address their intellectual property infringement complaints.[v] In many instances, this do-it-yourself brand registry system has circumvented the sellers’ need to hire an attorney for IP complaints.[vi] 

Getting started with Brand Registry is simple: a holder of a valid patent, copyright, or trademark must input a valid USPTO registration number into the enrollment form to “connect” it to their Brand Registry Account.[vii] Once Amazon’s team reviews and approves the submission, the seller can begin reporting offending listings to the Brand Registry Team, who then reviews the listing and removes the infringing content.[viii]

As convenient as it may sound, all that glitters is not gold. Brand Registry is far from a perfect system. A quick search of Amazon’s seller forum will yield numerous threads created by frustrated sellers.[ix] Common complaints include lackluster communication on the part of the Brand Registry team; repeated, seemingly unjustified boilerplate denials of validly registered USPTO trademarks and other IP; ill-explained rejections of infringement complaints; and knockoff sellers reporting valid product listings and having them removed.[x]

In my experience as a seller within the Amazon Brand Registry system, I have found it effectively impossible to have a live, real-time conversation with any Amazon representative authorized to review appeals pertaining to infringing content and approve or deny my IP claims. When the system is working properly, it is very simple and convenient. But when it is not, a host of issues arises, and a small business owner may be left spinning in circles trying to speak to an agent willing and able to discuss the facts of their case.

In instances like these, it becomes apparent that even a corporate giant like Amazon has yet failed to render the role of an attentive, commiserate IP attorney obsolete.

[i] Amazon opens for Business | July 16, 1995, History.com, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/amazon-opens-for-business (last visited Jan 16, 2024).

[ii] Amazon FBA: Fulfillment services for your ecommerce business, Amazon.com, https://sell.amazon.com/fulfillment-by-amazon#:~:text=Fulfillment%20by%20Amazon%20(FBA)%20is,two%2Dday%20shipping%20through%20Prime. (last visited Jan 17, 2024).

[iii] Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon.com, https://www.aboutamazon.com/what-we-do/amazon-web-services (last visited Jan 16, 2024).

[iv] Amazon FBA: Fulfillment services for your ecommerce business, Amazon.com, https://sell.amazon.com/fulfillment-by-amazon#:~:text=Fulfillment%20by%20Amazon%20(FBA)%20is,two%2Dday%20shipping%20through%20Prime. (last visited Jan 17, 2024).

[v] Johnathan Lyman, The Seller Journal’s Guide to the Amazon Brand Registry The Seller Journal (2023), https://sellerjournal.com/guides/amazon/amazon-brand-registry-guide/ (last visited Jan 16, 2024).

[vi] Amazon Brand Protection: Protect the Brand You Built, Amazon Brand Registry, https://brandservices.amazon.com/ (last visited Jan 17, 2024).

[vii] Id.

[viii] Id.

[ix] Forums, Amazon Seller Forums, https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/ (last visited Jan 16, 2024).

[x] Id.