Trademark RegistrationYES!  As of May 2017, Amazon’s Brand Registry program requires every brand owner to hold a registered (or pending) federal trademark that is associated with the product being sold in the Amazon marketplace.

Amazon Brand Registry – Pre-Enrollment

To enroll a brand in Amazon’s Brand Registry, a brand owner must provide the following information to Amazon:

  • Evidence of the brand owners registered (or pending) federal trademark that is associated with the product(s) being sold; and
  • The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) assigned Serial Number or Registration Number for the registered or applied-for federal trademark.

Amazon Brand Registry – Post-Enrollment

Once enrolled in Amazon’s Brand Registry, a brand owner will have the ability to better manage its product listings so that customers can view accurate information about the brand and its products.  Amazon will provide the brand owner with automated protections that will proactively remove suspected infringing products or inaccurate information in the marketplace.  Finally, Amazon will provide brand owners with a suite of powerful search tools to help identify and report suspected trademark infringements in the marketplace.

For more information on Amazon’s commitment to brand protection, see – https://brandservices.amazon.com/progressreport

Register Your Brand’s Trademarks

Our trademark attorneys help brand owners across the United States register and protect their trademarks with the USPTO.  Our law firm handles federal trademark registrations in two phases.  First, our attorneys will perform a comprehensive state and federal trademark search and clearance to determine whether your proposed brand name or trademark is available for use in the relevant trademark classification.  Second, if your brand name or trademark is available for use, our attorneys will prepare and file your federal trademark for registration.  Our law firm will respond to all USPTO trademark inquires and office actions and will keep track of important trademark deadlines, including renewal deadlines in the future.

Trademark Registration Timelines

Generally speaking, the federal trademark registration process takes at least one year.  However, brand owners enrolling in Amazon’s Brand Registry services will not be required to wait until the trademark registration is complete.  Amazon will allow brand owners to enroll prior to registration by providing a pending trademark Serial Number assigned by the USPTO.  To that end, the sooner a brand owner starts the federal trademark registration process, the better.  On June 23, 2021, the USPTO published the following:

Since last fall, trademark applications from U.S. and foreign applicants have surged to unprecedented levels. As of June 17, the increase is roughly 63% over last year, which translates to about 211,000 more applications. And in December 2020 alone, the USPTO received 92,608 trademark applications, an increase of 172% over December 2019. This surge has doubled the number of applications waiting to be examined and increased waiting times at various stages in our processes. As a result, applicants may have to wait longer for initial processing of their application, receiving an office action, processing of responses to office actions, and reviewing of post-registration filings.

For updated information and current processing times, please visit the Trademarks Dashboard page of the USPTO website.

Contact Our Trademark Attorneys

If you are starting a new brand and need guidance with registering a federal trademark for Amazon’s Brand Registry program, please contact our law firm by giving us a call, filling out our contact form, or sending one of our lawyers an email.