This post is by Chris McCabe, owner and founder of ecommerceChris, LLC, an Amazon seller account consultancy.
In order to meet a minimum liability standard, Amazon will act upon properly submitted and completed notices of claimed infringement. They will notify specified marketplace sellers which party reported them, on what listing, and how to reach that would-be rights owner via email. The rest though, is up to you. And, unless you (and possibly your legal team) can prove that the infringement claim is false, Amazon considers it valid and actionable.
Unfortunately, word is out among potential infringement claim abusers that anyone can submit a form. Amazon are not worried about additional vetting or verification processes. Investigators merely check the form for completed content in all the right spaces, kill the listings and send off the notifications.
They don’t independently verify that any of the information is actually correct, or valid. The rights owner makes a legally-binding declaration in the form, and signs it. What if you can’t locate a party who submits a false form against you? It’s up to you to chase them down and then show Amazon teams that the infringement allegations are false. There is no guarantee that you’ll be successful though, as results vary.
View Top Amazon Seller ToolsA quick history of infringement claim processing
We know that Amazon never gives out anything beyond an email address and does not vet the party submitting the form, but why is this? Because policy is that investigators don’t look beyond the form itself, unless it is to prevent Amazon getting involved in dispute mediation.
Amazon assumes no liability for identifying true versus false rights ownersAmazon assumes no liability for identifying true versus false rights owners. They merely assess the documents in front of them as complete, look for the named seller storefronts and selected ASINs, and warn or suspend the targeted seller. They refuse to get involved beyond that line unless compelled legally. You’re directed to take your legal disputes elsewhere.
Remember that Amazon teams have trouble keeping up with the number of forms coming in each day. Notice forms roll in constantly, often with no definitive proof of true rights ownership. Listings are cancelled, sellers are warned, top-selling ASINs drop out of active listings and increasingly, sellers find themselves suspended first, with questions asked later.
Amazon has to avoid any chance that they could be missing reports of fake products or counterfeit items, and needs to take every step possible to err on the side of aggression. But the net effect on the marketplace itself is to undermine a seller’s sense of any protection or any real control of this entire process
What is a rights owner infringement, anyway?
There are different kinds of infringement complaints submitted to Amazon for review and action. It’s important to differentiate between counterfeit and rights owner infringement because Amazon treats them differently.
Broad account reviews don’t just shut down groups of listings but entire accountsFor a counterfeit complaint, Amazon asks the alleged counterfeiter for supply chain documentation. If you’re accused of selling inauthentic products, and especially if there’s a test buy involved from the buyer or accusing seller, you’ll need to provide as much documentation leading back to the brand or manufacturer as possible. If this means adding a letter from your distributor asserting, on their company letterhead, where they sourced the items, then so be it.
For rights owner complaints submitted via this form, Amazon removes the listing pending contact from the complainant. They need to hear directly from the rights owner in order to reinstate your listing. A rights owner complaint could be due to a patent, copyright, or trademark infringement. A patent infringement on Amazon means selling, or offering to sell, a patented invention without the permission of the patent owner.
A copyright infringement is using other people’s images or text without authorization to use it on Amazon. Product listings, physical products, and packaging cannot include copyrighted content or images. Submission of a form indicating a copyright violation results in a listing removal and warning, at the very minimum. Enough of these could result in a suspension.
Trademark infringement concerns symbols or words that are registered to a specific company or product. These may not be used or reproduced (i.e. counterfeit) without authorization. Some recent trademark claims, even for first time offenders, have resulted in suspensions if the brand is sufficiently hot-button, like Apple. So, whether you get a warning or an outright account suspension can depend on the brand that submits the complaint.
There’s evidence that all brands are paying a lot more attention to sales of their products on Amazon. Some want sellers off their listings and others are using the process to try to control their distribution, expecting action to be taken against seller accounts.
Unfortunately, broad account reviews by investigation teams don’t just shut down groups of listings but entire accounts all the time. If you’re repeatedly receiving Notices of Claimed Infringement then it’s easier to force you to change your ways across the board and not just prevent you from selling certain brands.
Amazon changes their tune on disputing claims
Long ago, in a galaxy a bit too close to all of us, some devious and over-competitive sellers looking for weak systems to exploit came up with an idea: why don’t we accuse our competitors of violating our rights ownership? We’ll just give Amazon a token email address and let them hammer our competition.
We’ll just give Amazon a token email address and let them hammer our competition.So, why is Amazon creating new teams around infringement abuse and listening more to sellers who dispute Notices of Claimed Infringement? Well, they need to make sure that they prevent any potential litigation from brand owners, but they also can’t maintain a marketplace where sellers are attacking each other based on the understanding that Amazon lets it happen.
Amazon does not require rights owners to have a seller account. So why not simply provide a freshly created email address as the contact point, and name the seller and the ASINs you want to bring down? Will Amazon find the time, or have the interest, to figure out whose really made the claim? Or, will they simply take the listings down, and warn the seller?
