Amazon Brand Registry: what it needs and how to enroll

What Amazon Brand Registry is

Amazon Brand Registry is Amazon's program for brand owners. Amazon describes it as a free program, and a brand can enroll even if you don’t sell in the Amazon store.

The entry ticket is a trademark. Your brand needs an active, registered trademark or a pending trademark application for your brand name or logo, issued by the designated government trademark office of a country with a corresponding Amazon store. For the US store, that office is the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Once a brand is enrolled, Brand Registry does two jobs. It gives the trademark owner tools to report and remove listings that copy or fake the brand, and it unlocks brand-only selling tools, such as A+ Content and Brand Stores, for brands that also sell on Amazon.

Amazon Brand Registry requirements

Amazon lists the same short set of requirements on its Brand Registry page and in its enrollment guide. The table puts each one next to what Amazon asks you to provide.

Agents and manufacturers cannot enroll a brand they do not own. Amazon's rule for an authorized agent is to have the trademark owner enroll the brand, then add you as an additional Brand Registry account user.

Why Brand Registry applications get rejected

Most rejections come from a mismatch between the application and the trademark record, or from product photos that do not prove the brand is on the goods. Amazon's enrollment guide names these errors:

• The brand name differs from the trademark text. Spaces and symbols count; Capitalization differences are accepted.
• The brand name is not permanently on the product. Permanent marks are printing, sewing, laser etching, or engraving. Stickers, labels, stamps, and tags do not count.
• The photo is not a real product photo: Stock images, digitally altered images, and computer-generated mockups are also not accepted.
• The mark type does not match. The trademark type you enter during enrollment must match the trademark type listed on the trademark record.

Getting the trademark first: what the USPTO charges

If your brand has no trademark yet, the US route is an application with the USPTO. A trademark covers goods or services in one or more classes, and the USPTO charges per class.

Brand Registry accepts a pending application, so you do not have to wait for the registration to enroll. The registration itself has to be kept alive with maintenance filings. If those filings and fees miss the deadline, your registration will expire or be canceled.

If you are domiciled outside the United States, you must have an attorney who is licensed to practice law in the United States. If you live in the United States or its territories, you aren't required to have an attorney. This page is general information, not legal advice. Trademark rules and fees differ by country, and each country's office sets its own.

IP Accelerator: Amazon's route to a trademark

IP Accelerator is Amazon's program that connects brands with a network of vetted legal service providers that offer trademark support. Amazon doesn’t charge a fee to connect you with service providers. When you pick a provider, you work with and pay them directly, and the government filing fees come on top.

The main reason to use it is timing: IP Accelerator participants can access a broader range of brand protection benefits sooner, even if their trademark registration is still pending. Firms in the program file in 22 trademark offices worldwide.

You can also file directly with the USPTO or hire any trademark attorney. Amazon's requirement is the trademark itself, and it does not require you to file through IP Accelerator.

How to enroll in Amazon Brand Registry

Amazon's enrollment guide splits the application into five steps, followed by a verification step after you submit.

1. Create a Brand Registry account

   Sign up at Amazon Brand Services using the same credentials you use to log in to Seller Central or Vendor Central. Then click Enroll a new brand on your Brand Registry home page.

2. Enter your brand information

   Add the brand name exactly as it appears on the trademark, the trademark office, the registration or application number, your logo if the mark is a design mark, and your product categories.

3. Upload product photos

   Add a photo of the product or packaging that shows the brand name permanently on it. Stock images, digitally altered images, and computer-generated mockups are also not accepted

4. Answer identity questions

   additional information or documentation from you, including your manufacturing or distribution information

5. Submit and pass verification

   Amazon verifies that you own the trademark by reaching out to a public contact associated with your trademark registration. That contact will receive a verification code, which they must share with you, and you send it back to Amazon to finish enrollment.

What Brand Registry protects and what it unlocks

Brand Registry's tools fall into two groups: tools that protect the brand from copies and fakes, and tools that help an enrolled brand sell in the Amazon store.

• Report a Violation: Report suspected IP infringement, store policy violations, and regulatory compliance concerns.
• Project Zero: block and remove listings immediately.
• Transparency: unique serial codes to stop counterfeits.
• Patent evaluation: US brands with a utility patent can ask a neutral evaluator to decide an infringement claim. Each party deposits $5,000, and the winning party receives their $5,000 deposit back.
• A+ Content: videos, enhanced images, product-comparison charts.
• Brand Stores: your own free storefront.
• Sponsored Brands: cost-per-click ad campaigns featuring multiple products from your brand.
• Brand Analytics: trends in customers' searches, purchases.

Brands that do not sell on Amazon get part of this list. Without a selling account, you won’t have access to benefits like A+ Content and Stores, but you’ll be able to access tools like Report a Violation from the Brand Registry portal. Even for sellers, each tool has its own access requirements.

Brand Registry in more than one country

Brand Registry uses a single, global account, so you do not need a new account for each country. At enrollment, though, you can pick only a single country-based trademark office.

To protect the brand in another country, you can add trademarks for the offices of other countries after your enrollment has been approved. Amazon recommends submitting trademarks for each country-based Amazon store you want to sell in. Each country's trademark office registers marks for its own country.

Where Nation fits

Questions about Amazon Brand Registry