Amazon has published its second Brand Protection Report. The report illustrates the steps that it has taken to combat the sale of counterfeit products on its marketplace.
Amazon states that in 2021 it blocked 2.5 million bad actor accounts before they sold their first product. It also specifies that the Brands Registry now includes 700,000 brands, with an increase of 40% compared to the previous report. At the same time, the average number of infringement reports sent to Amazon has dropped by 25 percent compared to 2020.
Among the other data of interest, we note that:
Amazon’s Counterfeit Crimes unit has taken numerous legal actions against counterfeiters. Since its creation in 2020, there has been an increase of 300% on a yearly basis.
More than 600 counterfeiters have been sued or reported to the authorities.
Amazon has detected, blocked and disposed of more than 3 million counterfeit products. Some of these had arrived at its logistics centers. Others were in the warehouses and factories of the counterfeiters that Amazon helped to identify in cooperation with companies and law enforcement agencies
In order to combat the phenomenon, Amazon has encouraged and recommended new forms of cooperation between the public and private sectors.
Amazon has also taken stock of its commitment to the issue. In fact, in 2021 it invested 900 million US dollars and employed more than 12,000 people in this activity.
What is the Brand Registry ?
The Brand Registry is Amazon’s platform dedicated to safeguarding brands from potential threats.
The service includes:
- an active monitoring tool for all registered members. Pages are inspected for violations;
- a tracking tool at item level, with the aim of combating counterfeiting. Each product is associated with a code which is checked upon dispatch. This ensures that only secure and original products are sent to the customer.
What do you need to register?
In order to register you must:
- have a currently registered trademark located on the goods or on the packaging
- ensure that you are the holder of the registered trademark rights
- have an Amazon account on Seller Central or Vendor Central.
Once these requirements are met, you can navigate the Amazon Brand site (brandservices.amazon.co.uk) and start the registration process by indicating
- brand name;
- registration identification number of the entity through which you registered your brand;
- relevant product category (which must coincide with the one declared when registering the brand);
- marketplace in which you wish to register your brand on Amazon.