Amazon auto-rejecting infringment reports and not allowing any way to appeal!
I have had a problem with counterfeits in the past, so I got a trademark for my brand from the USPTO, as well as getting Amazon Brand Registered. I also got copyrights on the text on my products. I've been selling on Amazon about 10 years, been brand registered for about 5, now suddenly my infringement reports are just bouncing right back as rejected as soon as submitted.
I tried to open a case or escalate to have someone actually look at the listings and the only response I get is I have to make a new report. Well now I've made many reports, for both copyright and trademark infringement and I feel like I'm beating my head against the wall. If this fails, I'll have to report this to the U.S. Copyright Office or the National Intellectual Property Rights Office and see if they can take take action on Amazon for failing to enforce laws on their platform. Is this the result of A.I.? Clearly no human looked at the listings or the violations would have been very obvious.
Amazon auto-rejecting infringment reports and not allowing any way to appeal!
I have had a problem with counterfeits in the past, so I got a trademark for my brand from the USPTO, as well as getting Amazon Brand Registered. I also got copyrights on the text on my products. I've been selling on Amazon about 10 years, been brand registered for about 5, now suddenly my infringement reports are just bouncing right back as rejected as soon as submitted.
I tried to open a case or escalate to have someone actually look at the listings and the only response I get is I have to make a new report. Well now I've made many reports, for both copyright and trademark infringement and I feel like I'm beating my head against the wall. If this fails, I'll have to report this to the U.S. Copyright Office or the National Intellectual Property Rights Office and see if they can take take action on Amazon for failing to enforce laws on their platform. Is this the result of A.I.? Clearly no human looked at the listings or the violations would have been very obvious.
28 replies
Jim_Amazon
Hi there @Seller_j1jF9nxfXmdeu
I just took a look into the ASINs you're reporting within Brand Registry! I do have a couple of questions here, as I'm not an expert in copyright law or anything, what does your copyright state that you own? Is it the name of that prayer or the prayer itself? Also, I can see you have products that are similar to the ones you're reporting. Is your goal here to report these products to have them removed?
Thank you!
Jim_Amazon
@Seller_j1jF9nxfXmdeu
It's not so much that this is a problem, but it's more so an instance where I'm looking for more information as to why this one was rejected. In instances like this, I want to ensure everything is operating properly.
From what I can see from the team, they are asking if there's a second copyright number as the one you submitted on your report was for only the name of the prayer. Just trying to ensure the team as all relevant information for this case.
Seller_j1jF9nxfXmdeu
The original copyright numbers were TX 8-822-406 for the Hero's Valor Military Prayer, and TX 8-803-520 for the Hero's Valor Civil Service Prayer, but they changed the formatting of the numbers and they put both versions of the prayer under the TX0008803520 registration number. Both prayers are identical, except for one word. One says "serve my country", the other says "serve my community. None off my other prayers merged under a same number as they were each much more different from each other. The other prayers are the Hero's Valor Breast Cancer Prayer TX 0008822407 (formerly TX 8-822-407, and the Hero's Valor Teacher's Prayer TX 0008822554 (formerly TX 8-822-554).
My registration papers state the title of the work, my name and the work protected as Author Created: Text, that being the prayer. When you write a book, and copyright it, they will name the title and author of the book, but they're not going to reprint the book on your documents.
Every time and everywhere I have sought to protect my work, my copyright has been recognized, including with Amazon, until now, so to me, this is a new problem
Let me elaborate of what the very top of the document states::
"This Certificate issued under the seal of the Copyright Office in accordance with title 17, United States Code, attests that the registration has been made for the work identified below. The information on this certificate has been made a part of the Copyright Office records."
Please note the bold and underlined part, where is says "for the work identified below". The title is the identifier, the text the author created is the work, in this case, my prayer. You do not have two copyrights, one for a title, and one for the work...
If you give me an email address, or way to attach my documents, I'll gladly send you copies for your own examination. At no time is the past, has Amazon ever come back saying "This is just for the title", nor has anyone else. Which however, the products do also have the title printed on their products, in which case they are still in violation of my copyrights, even by your own determination, which I fully disagree with and dispute, so am further puzzled why no action has been taken.
Seller_j1jF9nxfXmdeu
I feel like I need to further point out the fact... The original titles to the prayers were all different, though the words "Hero's Valor Prayer" is contained in all four titles, and I own all four original documents with those titles...
Just to prove it's the content and not the titles that are the protected work, this is why the United States Copyright Office took it upon themselves to merge the Hero's Valor Military Prayer and the Hero's Valor Civil Service Prayer into a single listing titled "Hero's Valor Prayer", without any input from me (I didn't even know it happened until after the fact), because it's the content that is the same (despite the single word difference), any reproduction of this work is legally considered plagiarism or theft of my intellectual property, and punishable under Copyright Law.
If it were only the titles that were protected, they would have either left all four as they were or merged all four. As a matter of fact, I don't think you can only copyright a title alone, it is all a unit (the title and the work, all works must be named, and that name is the identifier for the work). Otherwise, people would be copyrighting good sounding titles left and right and selling to the highest bidder, much as they currently do with website URLs. It's very hard to find a good URL because of this practice. When creating a new brand, I have to first see what URLs aren't taken so I can buy it for my brand.
Seller_j1jF9nxfXmdeu
Jim, do me a favor and google “Can you copyright a title?” The answer is:
No, you cannot copyright a title under US copyright law, as titles are considered short phrases and not original works of authorship. However, you can trademark a title if it's distinctive and used to identify a product or service.
With that understood, we know it is the prayer which is copyrighted, and the title is protected as a part of that work. When looking up the copyright, are you expecting to see the prayer there? If it worked that way, then no one would buy books, they would just look up the copyright page to find the entire book there and pay nothing to read it. The title and copyrighted work are accepted and protected under copyright law, by the United States Copyright Office.
Amazon is bound to obey all laws of the states and countries they do business in. Being notified by a rights holder or their authorized agent, that a listing is in violation of an intellectual property right (copyright, trademark or patent), Amazon’s job is to remove the listing in question. They are to notify the seller of what the violation is, of the right’s holders name and email address, and give them the opportunity to dispute the claim by showing that they are the true rights holder or have been authorized by the rights holder to sell the products in question, or that they have purchased the products through such an authorized source. Failure to show this disqualifies their claim.
The removal of the violating listing should be non-negotiable and immediate, especially once it is established that the claim is made by the legitimate right’s holder or their agent, no further harm should be imposed upon them.
Amazon is not the entity which must prove or disprove the validity of the claim, the burden of proof falls on the delisted seller to prove they have authority to sell the products. Failure to do so keeps the item(s) delisted. Amazon is the middleman here and merely following the law as best it can and is blameless.
Amazon, however, is not blameless if given proper notification from a rights holder or their agent and fails to act. Amazon is being unduly enriched by accepting money and sales from all parties and allowing continued harm to a rights holder. It is within Amazon’s best interest to err on the side of an identified right’s holder and to not continue selling counterfeit or infringing materials. If any report is falsely made, it is the reporter who will be held responsible for the false report and Amazon will be held blameless as their actions were their best attempt to obey intellectual property law.
Seller_j1jF9nxfXmdeu
We know the information submitted was for the PRAYER and NOT the title, if there is more information needed, I am more than happy to give it. It's been a week since you have last responded, I'd like an update on if any progress has been made.
With that said, I would like to see my property rights enforced and the counterfeit products removed. I am officially asking Amazon to cease and desist all sales of the copyright infringing products. Failure to comply will force me to seek legal remedies against Amazon. I am a small business owner, I have taken the time to get a USPTO Trademark for my company, to get my works registered with the United States Copyright Office, and to get my products Amazon Brand Registered. If you think I will not be following through with further actions to protect my business, my products and my family, I will find yourselves mistaken.
I came here as a last-ditch effort to get help from Amazon, which you said you would be more than willing to help with as best you can. I have every report number, copies of all communications and opened cases and each forum thread I have been a part of, and these communications will be used against Amazon in court if it comes to that. I've heard a lot of words, but seen no actions, so I will be the one taking actions. I will wait a week before proceeding, to allow Amazon the opportunity to take action.
Jim_Amazon
@Seller_j1jF9nxfXmdeu
I'll be opening a direct message with you via a case to get these documents from you! I want to pass this along to the team.
Seller_tZJo8PvgHyd8X
Call a trademark and copyright lawyer instead.
