Requirements for enrolling in Amazon brand registry and ‘trademark registration’ in Japan

For Amazon brand registry

I’m listing my products on Amazon and I heard that if I enroll my brand in Amazon brand registry, I can create a store page dedicated to my brand. This could lead to increased sales, right? So I’m thinking of applying for Amazon brand registry, but what are the requirements for the registry?

There are many requirements to apply for Amazon brand registry, the first of which is the creation of an Amazon brand registration account. And the most important requirement is that you have a trademark registration.

Many different requirements must be met. Give me the information you know.
I want to enroll my brand but I don’t know if I can do it myself …

Requirements for Amazon brand registry

Amazon Brand Registry is a registration program for selling your own branded products on Amazon. Enrollment in the brand registry makes it easier for buyers to find your products by displaying your brand name on the product page.

There are also significant benefits for individual and corporate Amazon sellers, such as avoiding carpoolers through intellectual property protection, building a brand and managing listing information through enhanced product page editing rights, and increasing sales through sponsored brand advertising.

There are various requirements to enrollment in Amazon brand registry.
This article introduces the requirements for Amazon brand registry, and explains the most important of the requirements – trademark registration – in an easy-to-understand manner, based on examples experienced by HARAKENZO WORLD PATENT & TRADEMARK, a patent attorney firm, in filing trademark applications for Amazon sellers.

Creating Amazon brand registry account

Go to the brand registry website page（Link）and select the marketplace of the country where you want to register your brand from the list of countries displayed on the screen.

If you have an Amazon Seller Central account, use the email address of that selling account and it will be immediately applied to your selling account.

This will create a brand registry account.

Trademark registration

Trademark registration is a procedure to protect your unique name, logo, etc., in relation to your products and services. Trademark registration takes time, effort and money, but it is a necessary procedure to differentiate your product or service from others.

Brand name includes letters and other characters

Either a ‘textual trademark’ or a ‘graphic trademark containing words, letters or numbers’ can only be enrolled in Amazon brand registry.
You must decide your Amazon brand which must contain letters or numbers.

【Note】
For example, a trademark that contains only graphics, such as a character design, cannot be registered as an Amazon brand.

Trademark registered in a predetermined country

If you want to enroll your brand name in Amazon brand registry, be sure to obtain a trademark registration in the country determined by Amazon.

As of February 2023, trademark registrations issued in the following countries, besides Japan, are determined 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.

【Important!】
You can choose any one from the above countries, but if you wish to sell your products in the Japanese Amazon store, we recommend that you enroll your brand in accordance with the Japanese trademark registration.

Brand registrants, i.e. trademark owners, who discover a malicious competitor or counterfeit product can exercise their rights under their trademarks and report it to Amazon, which can then respond and stop the vendor from selling the product.
This right is only recognized within the country where the trademark right was acquired.
To prevent trademark infringement in Japan, you can enroll your brand with the Japanese trademark registration.

For more information on the benefits of registered trademarks in Amazon brand registry, please refer to the following article.

Product in designated goods of trademark registration

The use of the brand name (= trademark) on Amazon must be made within the rights obtained from the trademark registration.
This means that the products sold on Amazon store are limited to the goods designated in the trademark registration.
Therefore, if it is difficult to find whether your trademark application is appropriate for your products, it is better to ask a trademark attorney, who is a trademark specialist, to file your trademark application

Trademark registered

An application for enrollment in Amazon brand registry should only be made after the trademark has been registered.

Once a trademark application has been filed with the Patent Office, the trademark is examined by the Patent Office and registered, but it takes approximately 4-10 months from application to registration (as of March 2023).
It is recommended to file trademark applications to the JPO as soon as possible.

<Trademark registration>

The JPO examines the following main points and only those trademarks that pass the examination are allowed to be registered.

・Distinctiveness
A trademark must be sufficiently distinguishing to identify one’s own goods or services with those of others (function to identify one’s own and other goods). Trademarks that lack distinctiveness are not registrable.

・No similar trademarks already registered
Another important factor is whether the trademark is similar to an existing trademark. If a similar trademark is already registered, the trademark registration will not be granted.
Before filing a trademark application, it is necessary to search similar trademarks in trademark databases and other databases to check the possibility of registration.

・No offenses against public order and morals
Trademarks that offend public order and morals cannot be registered. This specifically includes violent or racist content.

Once a trademark has passed the examination, a registration fee must be paid within a certain period of time.
Once the registration fee is paid, the registration is officially granted.
To maintain your rights, you must pay regular renewal fees after registration to keep your rights valid.

Examination by Amazon

Amazon will review your application for enrollment in brand registry and decide whether to approve or reject it.

The decision to approve or reject is based on factors such as product quality, quality of client service and compliance with intellectual property rights.

Enrollment in Amazon brand registry only by trademark owners

Enrollment in Amazon brand registry is determined to be made by the trademark owners themselves.
Applications submitted by anyone other than the trademark owner will not normally be approved.

Entering verification code from Amazon

Once the application has been reviewed by Amazon, Amazon will send a verification code to confirm that the application for Amazon brand registration has been made by the trademark owner themselves.
Once you receive the code, log in to your Amazon brand registry account and enter this code.
Once you have submitted the verification code to Amazon, enrollment in Amazon brand registry is complete.

＊If you request a trademark application via Amazing DX, the verification code will be sent to a patent attorney firm, HARAKENZO WORLD PATENT & TRADEMARK.
The code received by our firm will be promptly provided to you.

More information on how to enroll in Amazon brand registry can be found in the following article.

If I make good use of the tools available through Amazon brand registry, I can increase my company’s sales. But first, I need to file a trademark. I’ll get the application ready right away.

Summary

We hope you have learned about the requirements for Amazon brand registry and the importance of registering your trademark.
If you would like to enroll your brand in Amazon brand registry but do not have a Japanese trademark registration, please consider filing the trademark application right now.

To file the trademark application, please consider using our service, “Amazing DX” provided by a patent law firm, HARAKENZO WORLD PATENT & TRADEMARK.
We are a leading patent firm with over 40 years of experience.

The fee from filing to registration is low, 584USD（including stamp fees 29,200JPY）.

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

Try our ‘Free Trademark Search’ first.