Trademark registration is essential for Amazon Brand Registry – Explaining benefits of registered trademark on Amazon in Japan

To enroll in Amazon Brand Registry

I’m listing my products on Amazon and I’ve heard that Amazon Brand Registry is advantageous because it can stop counterfeit products from being listed. So I’m thinking of enrolling in the Brand Registry. But I need to register my brand name as a trademark.

To enroll in Amazon Brand Registry, you need to register your trademark. You can enroll your brand as long as it is registered in a country defined by Amazon.
However, if you want to sell your product in the Japanese Amazon store, it is recommended that you obtain a Japanese trademark registration.

Hmmm? Can I enroll my brand on the Japanese Amazon store with a non-Japanese trademark registration?

Can I enroll Amazon brand without Japanese trademark registration?

Amazon brand registry is a system that offers significant benefits to individual and corporate Amazon sellers, including protection of intellectual property and brands, brand building and management of listing information.

Brand registry is free and you should do it.

This article provides a clear explanation of the trademark registration requirements for Amazon Brand Registry and the benefits of Amazon Brand Registry that can be gained by registering a trademark.

Enter your trademark registration details in Amazon Brand Registry application

When applying a new brand via your Amazon Brand Registry account, the application page on the site has a field where you can enter the country in which the trademark for the brand name you are applying for is registered and the registration number of that trademark.

Here, if the trademark is registered in Japan, select ‘日本-Japanese Patent/Trademark Office-JPO’ as the registered trademark agency and enter the trademark registration number given by the Japan Patent Office: ‘Registration No. ＊＊＊＊＊＊’.

【Attention！】
Before filing an application, it is advisable to conduct a prior trademark search to see if the same mark has been registered and to determine in advance the possibility of registering a trademark.

Application for enrollment in Amazon Brand Registry must be made by the trademark owner themselves.

If an application is submitted by someone other than the trademark owner, it will not normally be approved.

For more information on the application process to the Amazon Brand Registry, see the following article.

Can the country of trademark registration and the country of brand registration be different?

When enrolling a brand name, you only need to have a trademark in one country.

Amazon extends the privilege of brand ownership to all its stores.

If your trademark in one country is approved by Amazon Brand Registration, you will have a global account that can be used in all Amazon stores worldwide.

This means that you do not have to have a registered trademark in Japan if you obtain a trademark registration in a country other than Japan and enrollment in Amazon Brand Registry is approved in connection with that trademark registration.

As of February 2023, trademark registrations issued in the following countries, other than Japan, are considered acceptable.

• USA, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Australia, India, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Singapore, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, UK, Egypt, Sweden, Poland, European Union and United Arab Emirates.

However, Amazon recommends that if you plan to list your products on the Amazon store in more than one country, you should register your trademark for that country in the Amazon Brand Registry.

What are the disadvantages of not registering a trademark in the country in which you intend to list your products on the Amazon store?

The reasons are as follows:

If you have a Japanese trademark registration

Suppose you sell a product on the Amazon store in Japan and you have registered your brand under a Japanese trademark registration.

In this case, if the brand registrant, i.e. the trademark owner, **exercises its rights under the trademark registration** and reports malicious competitors or counterfeit products to Amazon, Amazon will stop the vendor from selling the product.

This is because the holder of a trademark right can insist that others do not use the trademark on the basis of the trademark right they have acquired.

This right is only recognized within the country where the trademark right was acquired.

Similarly, if you want to list your products on the Amazon store in the USA, it is a good idea to obtain a trademark registration in the USA and register your brand there.

Recommendations for filing international application

If you list or plan to list your company’s products in Amazon stores in a number of countries, you may want to consider filing an international trademark registration based on Madrid Protocol.

By filing an international trademark registration, you can obtain trademark rights in multiple countries with a simple application procedure by designating the countries in which your product is listed on the Amazon stores as the designated countries for the application.

Please note that an international trademark registration can only be exercised in the designated countries in which the trademark protection is granted.

You can find out more about international trademark registrations based on Madrid Protocol. in the following article.

If you have not obtained Japanese trademark registration

On the other hand, what if you want to sell your product on the Amazon store in Japan but do not own a Japanese trademark registration and have enrolled your brand under a trademark in another country?

Exercise of rights under trademark rights is only permitted in the country where the trademark is registered.

Therefore, even if you want to exclude counterfeit products, you cannot ask Amazon to take action, such as suspending the sale of such products.

Thus, without a trademark registration in the country of your Amazon store, you cannot utilize the most effective features of Amazon Brand Registry.

This means that even if you have enrolled your brand, it doesn’t work effectively.

That is why it is important to get your trademark registered in the country of your Amazon store.

Advantages of Japanese-registered trademark in Amazon Brand Registry

One of the biggest benefits that Amazon sellers receive from Amazon Brand Registry is that it allows them to sell their products exclusively and eliminate counterfeiters and competitors.

This means that once an Amazon brand is registered, the seller, as the owner of the trademark, can report any malicious scalpers or resellers to Amazon as a trademark infringement, and Amazon will take action to stop the scalpers or resellers from selling the product based on this report.

As a result, this can prevent problems such as brand damage due to counterfeit products being sold and product prices falling due to sales competition.

If you’re going to list your product on the Japanese Amazon store, you’d better enroll your Amazon brand with the Japanese trademark registration. I’ll get the application ready right away.

Summary

Have you found that Japanese trademark registration is a good way to enroll your Amazon brand in Japan?

If you are selling your products on the Amazon store but do not have a Japanese trademark registration, you should obtain a Japanese trademark registration.

To file a trademark, use “Amazing DX” provided by HARAKENZO WORLD PATENT & TRADEMARK, a patent attorney firm.

The cost from application to registration is as low as 584 USD for one class (including JPO stamp fee of 29,200 JPY).

“Amazing DX” can also be used to file foreign trademark applications including international registrations based on the Madrid Protocol.

If you have any problems or questions about ‘Amazing DX’ or about trademarks in general, you can contact our specialist trademark attorneys via contact form.

Try the ‘Free Trademark Search’ first.