Amazon Brand Registry Requirements: How to Get Approved in 10 Days!

If you’re getting started in creating your private label on Amazon, then you’ve probably heard about Brand Registry. This is a program that Amazon created to help protect brands and intellectual property.

In this blog post, I will discuss the Amazon Brand Registry requirements for approval, the common methods to register a brand, and then I’ll also show you my own method of how to do it in just 10 days!

Read until the end to learn about the full benefits of having your brand registered on Amazon!

Disclaimer: Sourcing Monster is not a trademark attorney. This article is for informative purposes only. Consult your own trademark attorney for Sourcing Monster is not responsible for any intellectual property issues or unexpected costs that may arise from using the 10-Day Method mentioned in this article.

Want a full overview of Amazon Brand Registry?

Watch my video that talks about when you should start Brand Registry, their requirements, the benefits of having a registered brand, and more!

Amazon Brand Registry Everything You Need to Know A-Z Guide

What are the Amazon Brand Registry Requirements?

In order to be eligible for Amazon’s Brand Registry, you must have a legally registered trademark.

Image Source

It can be a pending trademark or registered fully registered as long as you provide an active text and image-based trademark, like Amazon’s trademark seen above.

It needs to be filed in each country where you wish to enroll or where you already have a pending trademark application that was accomplished through Amazon’s IP Accelerator. If you want to do it yourself through my method, continue reading this article.

Read more specific details and country-specific requirements on their website here.

It’s important to note that Brand Registry is not the same thing as private labeling. 

With Brand Registry, you are simply registering your brand name with Amazon. This gives you some added protection against counterfeiters and other sellers who might try to steal your business.

What Are the Methods to Apply for Brand Registry?

Amazon’s IP Accelerator

The platform has its own list of recommended and trustworthy law firms. 

Amazon has negotiated with these law firms a maximum service fee that they can charge you, however, I still find it very overpriced, because they charge fees for processes that you can do all by yourself!

For example, the lawyers charge a fee to search on your behalf for a conflicting trademark name, which you can easily do for free.

If you’re still interested in checking it out, you can learn more about Amazon’s IP Accelerator here.

Common USPTO Application methods

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the governing body for trademarks in the United States. It is also the most common method that people use when applying for an Amazon Brand Registry. If you’re looking to apply for a trademark, this is likely where you will start.

They have a lower-cost option at $225 that can take an 8 to 12-month process, and there is a rush process that takes 14 days for $1000.

My 10-Day Method using USPTO

I have discovered a way to pay less but is faster than their rush process, cut costs and get it done in as little as ten days!

It costs just as much as it would for the applications that take up to a year, which is only $225!

Watch and read all about it below!

Note: This process is specifically for applying for a trademark in the United States.

Searching Trademark Name

1. Visit the USPTO official website. Hover over Trademarks at the top, and under Application Process, click on “Searching trademarks”.
2. Click on the button in grey that says “Search our trademark database (TESS)” .
3. Under the Select A Search Option box, click on “Basic Word Mark Search (New User)”.
4. Search for your desired brand name to make sure there is nothing similar in your category.
5. If your desired brand name does not appear at all or does not have similar search results on the USPTO website, you may feel free to apply after creating an account on MyUSPTO.

Sign Up for MyUSPTO

1. Visit the register page for MyUSPTO
2. Once logged in, on the home page, hover over Trademarks again, and click on “Apply Online” under Application Process.
3. Read their instructions and click on the blue “Initial Application Forms” option.
4. Read the page and under Ready to Apply?, click on the button in grey that says “Start your Application in TEAS” . The next page may ask you to verify your account.

Providing Applicant Information

1. After starting the application, fully read and comprehend the page which details the application process.
2. Towards the bottom of the page, they will ask if you choose to file through TEAS Plus or TEAS Standard, also if have an attorney applying on your behalf or if you are filing by yourself. I chose to use TEAS Plus and file it on my own.
3. Continue reading and filling out their form until the next page.
4. On the next page, they will ask for Applicant Information such as applicant name or business name, entity type, mailing address of business (it can be a P.O. Box as long as it matches the business registration address), phone number, email address (use business email address), website address (optional).

Providing Mark and Good/Services Information

1. After successfully completing the Applicant Information section, they’ll request Mark Information on the following page.
2. Make sure that you have your branding ready. You will provide it to them either through Standard Characters, Specialized Form (Stylized and/or Design), or Sound mark (audio).
3. Next, you will choose what Goods/Services your business falls under (category). Your business may broaden later on, but for now, search and choose the closest category.

Providing Filing Basis

1. You must state the legal grounds on which you are permitted to federally register your trademark, known as filing basis.
2. The four possible bases are:

• Use in commerce basis (under Trademark Act Section 1(a)) – your mark is already presently in use in comments with your goods and/or services.
• Intent-to-use basis (under Section 1(b)) – in the near future, your intent to use your mark in commerce for your goods and/or services is genuine.
• Foreign registration basis (under Section 44(e)) – you own a foreign registration for the same mark in your home country for the same goods and/or services.
• Foreign application basis (under Section 44(d)) – within six months of your U.S. application for the same mark for the same goods and/or services, you already own a previously filed foreign application (called a “foreign priority basis” because the applicant is requesting a “priority” filing date for their U.S. application which is the same date of their foreign application filing date)

Read properly and fully understand about filing bases here.

Providing Photo of Goods/Services

1. Next, you will be asked to provide a specimen (attachment) of your finished product with the use of your mark. Examples of good specimen are tags, labels, containers, instruction manuals, and photographs of the mark displayed on goods or its packaging. It must be in JPG or PDF format, not exceeding 5MB and 30MB respectively.
2. Provide a description of the specimen. Make it as detailed and easy-to-understand as possible.
3. Provide the Date of the first use of the mark anywhere, then the Date of first use of the mark in actual commerce.

Next, you will provide correspondence information in which the USPTO will contact you. Make sure it is an active, primary email address that is regularly checked and is for business activities.

Then they will provide payment information and get your electronic signature.

Lastly, USPTO will provide a final full look at everything you have submitted to allow you to verify if it is correct.

How Do I Pass Amazon Brand Registry?

Once you have your trademark, it is time to apply on Amazon’s Brand Registry.

The process of registering your trademark with Amazon is relatively straightforward, requiring basic information about your trademark and your company.

Check Status of your Trademark

You will know that your trademark status is eligible for applying to Brand Registry when you can retrieve information for it on the USPTO website.

1. On the USPTO website, on the right side, hover over the Trademarks dropdown which is under Find It Fast. Click on TSDR (Trademark Status & Document Retrieval).
2. On the next page, enter your Trademark No. and click on Status.
3. Once you can search the status and view the information, you can apply for Brand Registry.

On the bottom of the Brand Registry page, click on the yellow Enroll Now button.

They will ask for your brand name, word mark, design mark, and information on your approved trademark. Your trademark must appear on your products and/or packaging.

Next, provide the list of product categories on Amazon that you wish to your brand to be listed under.

Amazon will then verify that you are the Rights Owner of the Trademark through a verification code that needs to be submitted back to them.

After full approval, all of Amazon’s Brand Registry benefits will be available to you.

You may be wondering what kinds of benefits there are to Brand Registry in the first place?

Why Should I Get My Brand Registered?

I would like to start off by sharing my personal opinion that sellers should only start their Brand Registry after a successful launch of their first product.

This way, you are sure that your product has had some momentum and it won’t be a problem later on for you to discontinue your brand.

In the beginning, it is more worth your time to do proper Product Research than worry about Brand Registry, because choosing the right product can mean life or death for your business.

I use Helium 10 for my product research, and it has helped me exponentially grow!

Here are some benefits that emphasize why you should get your brand registered:

• They provide a fast and effective way to eliminate counterfeit sellers of a registered brand’s products because their legal team is hands-on
• Brand Registry offers their sellers specialized tools that are not available to sellers without their brand registered. They have been very helpful to my business’s growth!
• Extra protection and seller support in dealing with listing hijackers, but they can be removed without Brand Registry. Watch my video about How to Remove Amazon FBA Hijackers Without Brand Registry!
• They provide extra content about your products that customers can read before they decide to purchase, much like A+ Content
• Provides accurate data for Brand Analytics. You can check data for other ASINs aside from your own! They provide the search term(s) of the product that is ranking enough to get sales.
• Inform sellers of usage of trademarked terms in competitor product listings
• Allows you to create experiments on the effectiveness of Product title, Main Image, and A+ Content.
• Check Price Competitiveness of products
• Eligibility for Brand Referral Bonus program, which is a way for sellers to earn extra income by referring visitors to their own product listings from outside of the site.
• Reply to Customer Reviews and contact customers
• Dedicated Seller Support for brand registry owners that is different from the regular seller support

and much more!

Conclusion

The Amazon Brand Registry process can sound dragging, with many trademarks taking a whole year for approval! 

Some hopeful brand owners may just decide to give up on their dream!

Applying for your brand’s registration on Amazon is a smart move that can provide many benefits down the line. 

With my help and personal 10 Day Method, I hope you are more encouraged to apply for Brand Registry!

If you have any questions about the process, please do not hesitate to contact me.