Amazon Brand Protection Report 2022: a breakdown

Last month, Amazon released their Brand Protection Report for 2022. Claiming to have invested over $1.2 billion and devoting 15,000 personnel to their brand protection initiatives, we look at some of the statistics and measures highlighting Amazon’s ongoing efforts to scale intellectual property (IP) protection and tackle the problem of counterfeits.

Robust proactive controls

Reportedly scanning over eight billion listings daily, Amazon states that controls such as seller verification and continuous monitoring have reduced the number of ‘bad actor’ attempts to create new selling accounts by more than 50%, year on year.

This will be reassuring for brands knowing that these measures have meant that apparently 99% of listings are proactively removed when suspected of being fraudulent, infringing or counterfeit.

Powerful tools to protect brands

Launched in 2017, Amazon’s Brand Registry provides brands with various automated protections to ensure their IP rights are protected. Amazon reports that these measures have seen a reduction of over 35% in the number of infringement notices submitted by brands compared to 2021.

Amazon also collaborates with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, working to ensure fraudulent applications and registrations are not used to enrol in its Brand Registry. They report that the partnership to date has identified and blocked over 5,000 false or abusive brands from enrolling in the Brand Registry.

Patent holders can also benefit from the Amazon Patent Evaluation Express, which allows neutral evaluation of a potentially infringing product in less time than a traditional lawsuit.

Holding bad actors to account

Amazon’s global Counterfeit Crimes Unit has reportedly succeeded in removing over six million counterfeit products from the global supply chain, claiming more than 1,300 criminals have been pursued through litigation and criminal referrals.

Protecting and educating customers

Partnerships with bodies such as the US Chamber of Commerce and the International Trademark Association show Amazon’s continued commitment to limit the reach of counterfeit goods and educate consumers.

Many brand owners will be keen to register their trade marks on the Brand Registry. Depending on the territory in which the trade mark is protected, brand owners would require either a pending application or registration in order to utilise the Brand Registry.

The Mathys & Squire team is happy to assist clients in filing trade mark applications and obtaining trade mark registrations for this purpose.