Safeguarding Your Brand on Amazon: Trademark Insights and Strategies

Have you ever wondered why a trademark is your golden ticket to success on Amazon and how to effectively navigate the Accelerator program for early access to the Amazon Brand Registry? Janet Moreira, our guest from Caldera Law, joined us in this Planet Amazon podcast to answer these questions, explain the legal protection a trademark offers, and advise on avoiding brand name conflicts.

We also tackled the tricky subject of registering a trademark outside the United States. International sellers, listen up! It's vital to register your trademarks in all countries you operate in for maximum brand protection. 

Janet talked about the myriad of tools Amazon provides to safeguard your brand, the right course of action if another seller uses your trademark, and how to report a violation to Amazon's Brand Registry team.

Finally, we discussed the rules surrounding trademark usage on products and packaging and the risks of using descriptive marks. And don't fret if you're wondering how to select an IP Accelerator firm or navigate through filing a trademark.

Tune in and arm yourself with the knowledge to protect your brand and thrive on Amazon.

To learn more about Phelps United https://phelpsunited.com/
To learn more about Caldera Law https://www.caldera.law/

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Planet Amazon podcast with Adam Shaffer, where we explore the world of Amazon and other e-commerce marketplaces. Join us as we delve into the latest strategies and tactics for successful selling on the world's largest online marketplace. Hello everybody.

Adam Shaffer: 0:19

I'm Adam Shaffer and welcome to Planet Amazon, where we talk about all things Amazon, and today we're going to talk about a really important topic. In fact, it's almost impossible to be successful on Amazon if you're a seller on Amazon or a brand on Amazon without having brand registry, and so it sounds simple, but there's definitely some steps you need to take, and the most important step is you have to actually have a brand and a trademark, or Amazon will not allow you to create a brand registry account, which gives you a whole bunch of benefits which we'll talk about, and to help me explain the importance of a trademark and how to get a trademark and how Amazon goes about all this is our special guest today Janet Moreira from Caldera Law. Thank you for joining us today, janet. We really appreciate you being here.

Janet Moreira: 1:13

Well, thank you for having me. I look forward to talking about this.

Adam Shaffer: 1:17

So you taught me about trademarks because we were trying to figure out how to get a brand registry account going and the first thing we found we needed was a trademark. And we went, tried to do it ourselves and it was very complicated and we were novices we're not in the trademark business and we really struggled trying to figure out how to do it ourselves although I know people do it. And then the waiting game of waiting to get the brand registry account set up. And then we learned about a program that Amazon has called IP Accelerator, and we met you through there. So can you explain what IP Accelerator is? And then we could get into the fun part of talking about trademarks.

Janet Moreira: 2:03

Sure, well, again, thank you for having me today. I look forward to talking about this. This is something I'm very passionate about, and I've been part of the Amazon IP Accelerator program since its inception in 2019. So Amazon IP Accelerator is basically a program benefit for Amazon sellers, and so Amazon's IP Accelerator consists of Amazon's vetted law firms, who are trusted experts who can help businesses establish their IP protection in the United States and expand their brand's footprint in the Amazon marketplace. So we are a law firm and we are an exclusive provider of legal services. If you use one of the vetted law firms in the Amazon IP Accelerator program, then you will have early access to Amazon brand registry, which is another program for Amazon sellers.

Adam Shaffer: 3:02

Yeah, I mean, and so that's what we learned by doing it ourselves We'd have to do the waiting game, and I think that's still pretty accurate where you have to wait. It could take six months to a year to get a use of the trademark, and that's if you are successful. But with an IP Accelerator partner like your company, it was like a couple of weeks.

Janet Moreira: 3:25

Yeah, yeah. So the primary benefit of IP Accelerator is that you have early access to Amazon brand registry. So Amazon brand registry is a program for Amazon sellers with registered brands right Now. The USPTO, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, takes a very long time these days to look at trademark applications due to the influx of trademark applications being filed. So when you file an application, it could be 10 to 12 months before your application is looked at, which means the registration process is even longer than that. So Amazon reacted to that and initiated the IP Accelerator program, giving sellers the ability to gain early access to brand registry, not having to wait until the brand is registered, but only wait until the application has been filed, so long as you are using one of these vetted law firms.

Adam Shaffer: 4:26

So I hope that answered your question. It does, and what we learned also is that, again, if you don't do it right, using this Accelerator is great because you can get your brand registry set up you still have to go through all the motions of securing your trademark until it becomes officially your registered trademark, or Amazon could kick you off the brand registry. Is that what happens?

Janet Moreira: 4:52

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, again, keep in mind that Amazon brand registry is for registered brands. So, while you can gain early access to brand registry through IP Accelerator think of it as sort of a probationary period you ultimately have to get a trademark registration in order to stay in brand registry. So you do want to work with. I mean, while the trademark application is a pretty straightforward process, it is one that is a legal process, right? And so when you're dealing with a legal process, it is important to have someone guide you through that process, because the trademark application has long-term and legal consequences and should be carefully prepared by someone who understands those things.

Adam Shaffer: 5:43

Yeah, for sure, and we definitely ran into some areas. I think the first trademark we did with you there was definitely you found some conflicts and we were, with your help, able to get through the conflicts and be able to keep the brand name that we wanted. So it's not, like I said, straightforward. If we did it ourselves, I mean, I think we would have gone down a path, spent a lot of time and money on it and then we would have had a kind of create a whole brand new brand name again. So thank you for that. But so now, taking it back just a little bit, and then we'll talk more about brand registry. For those that don't understand and I know you definitely do what's the trademark? What do you need one? What is it for?

Janet Moreira: 6:29

Well, that's a very loaded question, so let's start with the basics. So a trademark is a symbol, a word or phrase that distinguishes your company's products or services from other companies. Everything that you buy in a store has a brand associated with it. It is a. It can provide legal protection to the owner of the trademark to have exclusive rights to use that trademark in commerce and to prevent others from using it without their permission. Brands are important for businesses because they help establish brand identity and reputation by creating this association between the trademark and the quality of products or services. Trademarks are great communication tools, right? They immediately tell a customer about your, about your brand, about the quality of your products and services, and a strong trademark basically creates consumer trust by ensuring that the trademark is always associated with that same level of quality for the products and services.

Adam Shaffer: 7:28

And and trademark it could be. You said words, but it could be a picture too.

Janet Moreira: 7:32

I could be a part, a picture, it can be a sound. If you think about Yahoo, if you think about the peacock and the chime for NBC, there's an colors, it's, it's anything that acts as a source identifier, and it can be a combination of those things as well.

Adam Shaffer: 7:49

I didn't realize you could trademark a sound. Yeah, okay, so like the NBC Don, like, like that chime is, yes, actually more Okay, I didn't realize, cool, I had to come up with a sound, so cool, so then. So then, if you do have the trademark Whether it's with Amazon on brand registry or not, on Amazon, and somebody says, hey, I like that brand name, I want to use that brand name, how does it work? How do you protect yourself?

Janet Moreira: 8:20

Okay, so a trademark protects you. I let me talk about a little bit about what a trademark Protects against, right? So a trademark covers you for the, the trademark that you filed. So whether it's a logo, whether it's words, whether it's words plus design in Combination with the goods and services that you've listed in your application, right. And then it protects you for those things on a nationwide level upon registration, right. So it gives you very broad protection across the United States Against confusingly similar marks. So the standard for whether a particular use conflicts with an existing trademark is not whether the two marks are identical. That is a large misconception. I'm good, most people right. It protects you against marks that are similar to yours. So it gives you a much broader level of protection Then one typically thinks of when they think about a trademark. It protects it for the products and against confusingly similar marks.

Adam Shaffer: 9:25

So so that's helpful. I didn't. I didn't realize that. And when you get a brand or trademark and you're based in the US and you're selling in the US, you're setting it up with the US patent and trademark office, the US PTO, right, what happens if you want to sell in Canada or in Europe somewhere? You have to do it again.

Janet Moreira: 9:47

Yeah, and rights are territorial, so every country has trademark laws, right? So when you want to, a Trademark in another country does not protect you in the US and a trademark in the US does not protect you in other countries, right? So international sellers can register a trademark wherever it is that they are selling their products and services, and trademark rights are granted by the individual country Registries trademark registries based on that country's specific trademark laws. So when a company registers a trademark in a particular country, those rights are limited to that country's borders, right? So while a particular seller may have rights in a particular country, maybe their home country that does not automatically extend to the United States and vice versa US sellers that have a US trademark does not mean that they have rights outside the US.

Adam Shaffer: 10:45

Wow, so you really got to focus. If you're going to start selling in other countries, your brand might already be being used out there for all you know. You don't know without searching, or somebody could also see what you're doing in the US and try to use that brand in a different country.

Janet Moreira: 11:00

Absolutely, it happens all the time.

Adam Shaffer: 11:02

Oh man, that would bum me out for sure. Cool. So now I guess the big question is you know why brand registry? So, you know, I think I would want to trade more. So I want to protect my brand and I want to, you know, have this unique brand to Tell people, learn about my products and understand it's a trusted source, and blah, blah blah. But I think that so many of the sellers on Amazon want it because a they want that, but they also Need the benefits of Amazon's help to protect their brand. So once you get brand registry, it opens up a whole, you know, set of tools that Amazon gives you.

Adam Shaffer: 11:41

So if you don't have your brand Registered with Amazon, which means you have to have a trademark- or you cannot get brand registry, so it's like the chicken and the egg, but you got to have that, that trademark, first.

Adam Shaffer: 11:55

Once you have brand registry, it unlocks a plus content so you could tell a much better story about your brand on Amazon for sure, and those that don't have a plus content really, really suffer because it just You'll have competitors that do have a plus content tell a much better story about their brand and their products and it'll give you a much lower conversion without it. And and you really do want to tell the story, because one thing you want is to explain to customers why they want your product, how it sells, their problems, and you also don't want returns from people saying, oh, let me try that if you could tell the right story, that'll hopefully prevent some returns and keep people happy. Also, you got to have a trademark, to have brand registry, so you can have a brand store or, you know, seller store. So without that, if you want to again tell a better story about your brand and differentiate yourselves, you need to have Brand registry. So you have to have a trademark. If you want to do vine, which is a reviews program that Amazon has, and in fact, if you have a brand registry account. They'll give you one freebie With 30 reviews. But to get your products reviewed on Amazon most in role in their vine program, without having a trademark and brand registry you can't have vine. If you want to report a violation where somebody is encroaching on your brand on Amazon, without having a legal trademark and brand registry, they won't even accept the case. So you need to have the trademark, to be able to have the brand registry, to be able to protect your brand and Be able to put cases in about people violating, maybe counterfeiting or doing whatever they're doing. And also it gives you somebody to talk to at Amazon there's a brand registry support team that is usually quite helpful to help you solve some of these problems. Also, if you want to do certain types of advertising on Amazon, you have to have a trademark, to have a brand registry, to be able to do brand Advertising and video advertising.

Adam Shaffer: 13:58

So again, it all goes back to how do I start? I want all these great features. I want to protect my content. I don't want folks changing the content I'm. I want help getting bad people that are abusing my trademark and my brand off of Amazon. You got to have that trademark, so I mean it. It all starts there, and so what are, what are some cases? Have you ever been involved with sellers on Amazon that say, hey, janet, I got the trademark, it's great, but some other people are using it like give us some of the, the, the stories that you've seen.

Janet Moreira: 14:34

Yeah, I mean I have clients who utilize the takedown provisions On Amazon with with their registered brands, when they see products that are utilizing their trademark. I mean there's two different. There's really two different types of Sort of unauthorized uses that really come into play on Amazon. I would say the first is counterfeiting, and what counterfeiting is is essentially the Is knockoffs, right, so pretending to be a brand that you're not. It is the manufacturing or the selling of items that look like a Genuine item but they are not the genuine item. So they are using someone else's brand to sell inferior products, right, and using that brand to attempt to pass off fake products as real products. That's counterfeiting, okay.

Janet Moreira: 15:28

The easiest way to think about counterfeiting, I think, for me is fake purses, right, which is an entire industry. In an everyday life, it's pretending to be a Chanel bag when it's really not a Chanel bag. Another method of unauthorized uses are the selling of products using trademarks that are very close Remember I use the language confusingly similar using trademarks that are very close to your trademark, right? So trademark infringement is selling similar products to the products that you're selling, not necessarily with your exact brand name, but using a brand name that is so close to your brand name, that it's causing confusion in the marketplace, right? So when it comes to enforcing against these things on Amazon, amazon is not going to pay attention and you're not going to have these tools available to you unless you have a registered trademark. And the only way you get a registered trademark is if you actually file for one right. And the way to get these benefits early is by utilizing IP accelerator program. So, yes, we utilize Amazon's tools frequently for our clients that have registered trademarks.

Adam Shaffer: 16:38

Do you ever help them on Amazon, or do you just advise them? How does that work? We haven't tortured you for that yet.

Janet Moreira: 16:45

Yeah, I mean I am not an Amazon platform expert. I would consider myself someone who knows a lot about trademarks. I do have some knowledge of utilizing some of the systems, including brand registry, and how to enroll the brand and navigate that system, which actually can be quite complex, to even enroll your brand in brand registry. So I do assist with that and I obviously have knowledge of the tools to report infringements on Amazon so that I do utilize.

Adam Shaffer: 17:21

What about writing the case? Would you write it or you just tell them what to do? Okay, so that's something, because sometimes writing it the way Amazon wants to hear it is really important.

Janet Moreira: 17:29

Absolutely. Yeah, of course, we know how to utilize the tools, and, being that, I have the trademark background. Amazon is one platform where we enforce clients' trademark rights, but it's not the only platform, and so, in any arena where we're doing that, we have to create the story and provide the information that the arbiter or the person making the decision on the case is going to need to hear in order to move the case forward. So, yes, we are able to do that.

Adam Shaffer: 18:01

And one thing you taught me also was that trademark is kind of specific to category right, the product category. So can there be the same brand name but somebody selling computer equipment and somebody selling clothing?

Janet Moreira: 18:19

Yes, there can be. There is a world where that can exist. Now, not if it's Apple, because that's a famous trademark right, but there can be identical marks on very different goods and services absolutely so.

Adam Shaffer: 18:34

when you register the trademark, you need to be pretty specific about what types of products that you put us through for sure.

Janet Moreira: 18:41

Yeah, the USPTO requires specificity there. It is one of the requirements of the trademark application. So you cannot file in a general class oh, I want class 25. You can't do that. You can't have broad descriptions of goods and services. If you file something with a very overly broad description, the USPTO is going to reject that application. So the description of goods and services has to be sufficiently specific and that is another reason why hiring counsel is so important, because they understand the intricacies of that and most people who are not doing this on a daily basis or have an expertise in this area don't understand those little technical nuances that have consequences and are very important to the trademark process.

Adam Shaffer: 19:37

Yeah, I mean, one thing we ran into was we had products in our minds that we wanted to create but they're not available yet and you kind of navigated us like you could actually get a trademark for a product that doesn't exist yet, but then you need to do work to make sure that you could keep your trademark. So can you explain more about that, because that was a lot of running around on our part to get sorted out.

Janet Moreira: 20:03

Well, I mean, that is really the difference between filing a use-based application or an intent to use application. So with a use-based application, the only goods that you can identify in your application are goods that you are using the trademark on and or have sold. So that is very specific right. But most sellers that I've encountered not only are maybe selling products currently, but have an idea of what they want to sell in the future. Right and when there are products that you have not sold with the trademark yet, you want to include those on an intent to use application. Now there is a balancing act to that. What you want to sell 10 years from now might not be appropriate to include in a trademark application that you're filing right now. There are strategic considerations to being specific, to having a timeline for the goods and services to be sold and not necessarily filing an application for the pie in the sky goods and services that you might want to file or might want to sell five, 10 years from now.

Adam Shaffer: 21:12

Yeah, and it can't just be a picture, right? You need to actually have a product with the logo on it or the packaging. How does that? What's the rules with that? You know it can't be, a vaporware.

Janet Moreira: 21:24

Yeah, with regard to ultimately making use of your trademark on your products, the trademark has to appear on the product or it has to appear on the packaging for the product, and it has to be exactly as you've applied for it.

Janet Moreira: 21:42

You cannot make changes. So if you have a logo that you love at the time that you file your application, and then three months later, when you go to file, you know, to design your packaging, you change the logo. Well, now it's different, right, and that might require the filing of an entirely new application. So at the time of filing, you want to make sure that whatever you are filing is the one that you're going to be using, and then, when you actually make use of it, you want to make sure that it's permanently affixed to your products. So permanently affixed means that it's not a sticker. You know that it's printed on the packaging, that it's embossed on your product, that it's attached to a hang tag that's attached to your product. So we help clients navigate, developing specimens, making sure that marketing materials correctly use the trademarks. There's a number of things that we can do to assist our clients with ensuring that the uses that they're making are compliant with trademark law.

Adam Shaffer: 22:51

Yep, and you know, one area that you kind of helped us with also is like we'll fall in love with the brand name that we want to use and you'll say, I don't know if you want to try to use that. And we'll say, oh, come on, Janet, like we love this name. What are we going to do? And your advice would be what? Well, somebody might be using it. You do it, yeah it depends.

Janet Moreira: 23:16

It depends on that specific trademark. There are so many things that go into it. I mean, a lot of people love descriptive marks. They love to tell customers immediately what they're selling. You know I'm selling kitchen spatulas so I want to call my trademark the best kitchen spatulas ever. You know, whatever it is people like to describe their products, those make the worst trademarks right, because not only are you, do you want to describe it that way, but so does every one of your competitors. So you know, descriptive marks tend to have risk associated with it. That, you know, is I.

Janet Moreira: 23:53

With any business that's starting out, I like to navigate them away from things that are risky things that are going to be costly, things that are going to be problematic down the line. I mean, when you're starting a brand, you should be starting a brand that's going to carry some weight, that's going to be able to develop goodwill, that's going to be different than your competition. So I try to guide my clients with keeping that in mind.

Adam Shaffer: 24:22

Plus, in our case, we'd be investing in packaging and in advertising and trying to build the brand. And then you might come back a few months later and say, hey guys, we got a problem here. So what would happen? You get notified by the USP, uspto, that, hey, this is a problem, yeah, or a company.

Janet Moreira: 24:43

How does it work? Does the?

Adam Shaffer: 24:44

USPTO come to you or does a company come to you?

Janet Moreira: 24:46

Either one or both.

Adam Shaffer: 24:48

Really Either one or both.

Janet Moreira: 24:50

So the USPTO, when they take a look at trademark applications, they're going to look at trademark applications or registrations that are filed with the USPTO.

Janet Moreira: 25:00

The USPTO is not going to look at the marketplace to determine whether or not there is a conflict Right, because we're talking about now conflicts between one mark that's been filed versus another mark that's been used before or filed before, right? So as far as the USPTO is concerned, they're going to look at their own database and extract those trademarks that are similar to yours, right? That's one potential issue, and if the USPTO finds a trademark that is similar to yours, then they're going to notify you through what's called an office action, which is another way to say a refusal, and they'll let you know why it's been refused and then you have the opportunity to respond, right? So that's one issue that could come up if you're using a mark that's similar to somebody else's mark. Another issue that could come up is that the owner of that trademark right has an issue with you and your application, and they have an opportunity to oppose your application through the USPTO. They have an opportunity to file a lawsuit against your, against your company, and that's true regardless of whether or not they have a trademark registration.

Janet Moreira: 26:09

So there are. There are rights in the US that come from use that are common law rights. So, even if someone has never registered a trademark, they have the opportunity to file a lawsuit. Now I say that right, there are rights that come from use in the United States. So even if you've never filed a trademark application, you can have trademark rights. Now, when it comes to Amazon, common law rights don't win the day. You don't get Amazon brand registry with common law rights.

Adam Shaffer: 26:43

You have to have a piece of it you get.

Janet Moreira: 26:44

Amazon brand registry with a registered trademark? Right, so there's a difference. It has different implications, different considerations. But when that occurs, when the USPTO issues an office action, then you have the opportunity to respond. But it's not an inexpensive process at that point, right. So it becomes expensive because you have to write a legal memorandum. You have to have it with supporting evidence and case law and exhibits to make your argument against the US government as to why they should change their mind. That's not always an easy task. Now, that's if the USPTO objects right. If somebody else objects to your trademark application, whether it's through the USPTO or whether it's through the filing of a lawsuit, that's also an expensive endeavor, right? So at that point, a lot of times people just abandon their trademark right, I'm sorry, go ahead.

Adam Shaffer: 27:47

What was funny is that I used to think companies, they don't look at this stuff like they have their thing. They're going through their lives and they're going, and we put a trademark in for something that has nothing to do with what they do, but yet somehow they know. So how do they know?

Janet Moreira: 28:04

Well, a lot of companies, a lot of brand owners, right, they utilize subscription services where those subscription services will pull and and extract any trademark application or filing sometimes around the world, depending on the nature of the subscription that you have of trademark applications that are potentially conflicting with your mark. So large brand owners, right, will have these watch services in place so they're watching the marketplace to protect their brand and make sure that they enforce their brand against potentially conflicting marks.

Adam Shaffer: 28:42

Yeah and so, and so that's something again, because we were, hey, janet, we want to use this brand and you're like I don't know, like maybe you shouldn't. We went through anyway, we were in this electronics category that we were trying to do, and then somebody was doing this watching, and they came to us and they said, hey, you know you can't really use that brand and it's soft, but you helped us. I mean, we had to go through a couple of steps, but you help negotiate something with them so we could still use the brand.

Janet Moreira: 29:12

Yeah, I mean, sometimes it's a matter of negotiating some sort of coexistence agreement, but again, this is the type of thing that does require the assistance of counsel to help.

Adam Shaffer: 29:24

We would have been dead with that. We would have abandoned because we would have never thought we could go up against this large company and you're, you believe maybe they'll carve something out for us and let us, you know, exist. So that was, that was good. But I guess the big the moral of the story is you should work with a company like yours or firm like yours to try to figure out your best chance of success up front so you don't have to go through all this stuff because we've gone through some of this stuff. And if we would have just spent the time with you to say, hey, you know, let us do some digging around first before you file, that would have been time well spent, I think.

Janet Moreira: 30:13

I mean I couldn't agree with you more. I think you know the process, like I said, is straightforward, but there are a lot of nuances. You know it is a legal process and with any legal process there are unforeseen things that come up that only a council can navigate and there are strategic considerations that doing so and considering these things at the beginning of the process may alleviate some of the potential complications later on. So obviously I am a huge proponent of utilizing council in this instance. I mean, if I you know, I love this process. I really enjoy helping sellers and brand owners navigate this process and finding creative solutions to get you the trademark that you want, by also being reasonable and doing diligence and research in advance of committing fully to a trademark.

Adam Shaffer: 31:18

I mean awesome. So how do people access IP Accelerator? How does it work with Amazon?

Janet Moreira: 31:27

Well, ip Accelerator is actually you know, it is a free program right, you have to have an Amazon seller account, so that is one of the things that you do need, but really it's. Ip Accelerator is a tool that is found on the Amazon seller platform and, as long as you have an Amazon seller account, you can find us through exploring some of the services that Amazon offers.

Adam Shaffer: 31:56

And we found you through their IP Accelerator, right. So why did we go with you? Well, you had the coolest dad, but it was because you were you know what it was, I don't know why because you were local to us and we felt, oh, that's cool, we'll pick somebody local. But it doesn't have to be that way. I mean, you don't need to be next door to somebody to work with them. So you know, I think you know you go through there and they're probably all pretty good, although your firm is probably the best.

Janet Moreira: 32:23

I have to say that all of them are really great firms. I mean, we are. We are colleagues more so than we are competitors. So the fact that they're in this program means that they have gone through a vetting process, it means that they know what they're doing and, ultimately, I think, when you choose council, you have to pick someone that you're comfortable with. Right, this is a long term process. This is not filing, and then we're never going to talk to each other again. Right, we want to be a strategic partner in the development of your business. Your business, hopefully, is going to grow beyond one brand. It's going to grow beyond one product. Right, so we want to be there along with you for this ride that is entrepreneurship. Right, and selecting council is a personal decision. Any one of these IP accelerator firms, from a business standpoint, is going to be able to help you navigate this process. So then it's beyond that, to who is wants to be there for the ride? Right, and you know, hopefully that's that's me.

Adam Shaffer: 33:30

Well, I mean, we, we work with you once and we've been back several times with multiple brands. So I think once you find the right match, you continue on with them, because it's definitely if you're an entrepreneur, it's never one brand. I don't. I don't think it's possible. So I think it continues on. And again, it's important for Amazon because you need those tools if you want to be successful, but you need the trademark anyway.

Adam Shaffer: 33:52

So I know it sounds like, hey, it's a boring story, but we were just at Amazon Accelerate in Seattle and there was a breakout on trademarks, ip accelerator and brand registry and it was probably the busiest session they've had, where people were sitting around and they they didn't really like you sitting around the wall, but they made you stand up, but but it was really well trafficked and so many people have questions about trademarks and how do I get a trademark and do I need it in all the countries, and so I think you know, just spending time with you and understanding it would help, because that was a really short session and I think there's still a lot of questions out there that people have. But you cannot be successful on Amazon if you don't have brand registry and you're trying to sell your own brand and if you're an agency and you're working with a brand, they need to have brand registry if you're going to help them become successful. So it all comes back to you got to have a trademark. A lot of brands already do.

Adam Shaffer: 34:51

I've worked with brands where and I guess this is a question like like we've worked with brands and like, oh my God, we got that trademark so many years I don't even know where the hell it is, I don't know who the lawyer is Like, what do you do when you're a brand and you're like I don't know, how do I find my trademark? I don't have it in my drawer.

Janet Moreira: 35:08

Well, I mean, first of all you can search it up on the USPTO right. So if you think you have a trademark, so their website.

Janet Moreira: 35:14

The USPTO website, yes, is a great resource. Start there and see if the application and the registration is still alive. I mean, there is a shelf life to trademark registrations, right? If you don't take action to maintain them. So the trademark registration is issued for typically a 10 year period, but there are filings that you have to do at the fifth and sixth year, the ninth and tenth year and every nine to 10 years thereafter to keep the registration alive, right? So there are times when registrations lapse due to the fact that these things are not maintained. However, if that occurs, you know again, reach out to council, see if they can help you file a new application. But you know, just because you had a registration once doesn't automatically guarantee you're going to get that again, because in that intervening time someone else may have filed an application that now conflicts, right?

Adam Shaffer: 36:06

So, yeah, so when we set up the brand registry accounts I think obviously for everybody it asked you for a code and it goes to the law firm that actually filed the registration for you.

Janet Moreira: 36:22

I think.

Adam Shaffer: 36:23

I think that's how it works and we had a brand that we were working with. You know it's a horrible story, but their lawyer died and they didn't even have a way to get through, like the firm must have closed. It was a one. How do you move it to somebody like you? Because it's emailing to somebody who's dead.

Janet Moreira: 36:39

Well, okay, so the thing that you can do there is having your new council file a change of correspondence right, Hiring an attorney.

Adam Shaffer: 36:47

Okay, so you can do that. It's not locked forever Okay.

Janet Moreira: 36:50

Yeah, I am. You can do that File the change of correspondence, identify a new council and then thereafter, once that's been reported with the USPTO and the information's been updated, then you can go through that process again.

Adam Shaffer: 37:03

I didn't realize that it sounded like it was like a dead end, so I'm going to.

Adam Shaffer: 37:08

No pun intended, but it was obviously horrible, so cool. So again, I think IP Accelerator is a great program. I think your firm has done us really well. You know we really appreciate everything you've done and I think that if anybody out there needs help just with basic questions about trademarks or you want to file the trademark, I do recommend. You know working with Janet and Caldera Law. They've been doing this forever and they're a vetted Amazon IP Accelerator partner. You know how do people get in touch with you if they want to reach out.

Janet Moreira: 37:42

They can get in touch with me by contacting me through the Amazon Seller Central dashboard. Right, there's a way for you to navigate and find IP Accelerator services and you can contact the provider and that's. We show up on the Amazon platform as Maven by Caldera Law. You can also reach out to us by emailing us at trademarks at caldera c-a-l-d-e-r-a dot law, or you can call our office, which is 305-967-7450. So all kinds of ways that you can reach out to us and get in touch.

Adam Shaffer: 38:18

We'll put that information in the show Wonderful, so people can link over to that. That'll be great, yeah, and any parting words for our guests today when we wrap things up here.

Janet Moreira: 38:28

Well, I mean, I think one of the important things that you can think about is that you know the trademark once you have one is not just for your use on Amazon right. Once you have a registered trademark, you have the exclusive right to use that trademark in commerce in the United States. That's on any platform. That's, you know, at a retail store, that's at mom-and-pop shops, that's anywhere. So it's very important to note that trademark rights when you file them with the USPTO are beyond the Amazon seller platform.

Adam Shaffer: 38:59

Yeah.

Janet Moreira: 38:59

Very valuable.

Adam Shaffer: 38:59

That's for sure. Great. Well, thank you very much. Important topic and hopefully you'll join us again, absolutely.

Janet Moreira: 39:05

And we can go even deeper.

Adam Shaffer: 39:06

Well, thanks so much.

Speaker 1: 39:08

Thank you. Thank you for watching another episode of the Planet Amazon podcast, where we talk all things Amazon. If you want to learn about how to accelerate your sales on Amazon, visit PhelpsUnited's website at PhelpsUnitedcom.