Competitor has registered a descriptive term as a trademark and had our listings removed
Hi Admins,
Going to need some assistance please, a competitor has registered the trademark 'Ultra Rare Cards'
This is a descriptive definition in the Trading Card industry, and not the name of any known company. He doesn't even have a website or product etc.
So if our title is for example CARD NAME <Rarity> TRADING CARD (SET NAME) and the card is infact of Ultra Rare classification (the official industry term) we will have Ultra Rare in the title as its important to differentiate it from a Common, Uncommon or other rarity level trading card.
He has had some of our listings removed and this of course is way outside of the scope of "seller support" to actually help.
Complaint ID: 10001486692
This has not just been done to us either, I'm already aware of 3 businesses who sell in the same niche on Amazon having had all of their equivalent listings removed - one competitor having successfully got their listings back online already.
@Maja_Amazon@Julia_Amazon@Winston_Amazon can someone intervene asap please - for someone who actually reads and looks this should be quite a quick one.
Thanks,
Luke
Competitor has registered a descriptive term as a trademark and had our listings removed
Hi Admins,
Going to need some assistance please, a competitor has registered the trademark 'Ultra Rare Cards'
This is a descriptive definition in the Trading Card industry, and not the name of any known company. He doesn't even have a website or product etc.
So if our title is for example CARD NAME <Rarity> TRADING CARD (SET NAME) and the card is infact of Ultra Rare classification (the official industry term) we will have Ultra Rare in the title as its important to differentiate it from a Common, Uncommon or other rarity level trading card.
He has had some of our listings removed and this of course is way outside of the scope of "seller support" to actually help.
Complaint ID: 10001486692
This has not just been done to us either, I'm already aware of 3 businesses who sell in the same niche on Amazon having had all of their equivalent listings removed - one competitor having successfully got their listings back online already.
@Maja_Amazon@Julia_Amazon@Winston_Amazon can someone intervene asap please - for someone who actually reads and looks this should be quite a quick one.
Thanks,
Luke
79 replies
Seller_ZQyopdiwkUHOZ
For the sake of any Mod reading this thread, 'Ultra Rare' is specifically printed on the booster packs themselves as a possible rarity of card to receive, and the ratio it is expected to appear in packs.
There is no ambiguity on this, the term is absolutely fine to use and should never have been flagged, nor had a complaint accepted for it.
Seller_hgWr16CS93TNM
We have had a very similar situation.
We have used the word Rose and Under the Bed in our description which have also been removed...
Its becoming a bit of a joke now....
George
Seller_xySbvelx4DBqR
Ah and this one please: 9987482612
Exactly the same thing, by exactly the same person.
Having taken legal advice we have been told that
a) This person has registered the brand name, not the descriptive term so our listings should never have been removed.
b) This person registered this trademark in April 2024, our listings pre date that by a number of years and so legally even if he owned the generic descriptive term (which he doesn't) we still should never have had our listings removed.
Seller_xySbvelx4DBqR
Think I tagged Julia incorrectly so redoing
@Julia_Amzn
Seller_Nprc5XWvdLYk9
the term ultra-rare
appears in the collins english dictionary (admittedly with a hyphen) - but it might help show it is a "generic" term.
we had an issue previously with an RPG book that used the text "this edition is canon with the original release"
and the amazon bot said it was infringing the trademarks of Canon (Japanese camera, photocopier, printer company)
EDIT - just to add we did get them to eventually see commonsense and reinstate the book/asin
Seller_1uc0aZkE2OP3g
Complaint ID: 9987482612
Having the same issue. It's ridiculous that someone can go and trademark a descriptive term that's been used in the industry since the inception of collectables.
I even tried to update the listing by removing the term "ultra rare" but can't even get that to update.
@Maja_Amazon@Winston_Amazon@Julia_Amazon @Simon_Amazon
Seller_x8Qxaxq0M84bs
Complaint ID 10001486692
We have our listings taken down for the same reason by the same seller! Pokemon Branded listing have gone with the term Ultra rare in! No way should this be allowed to happen
@Maja_Amazon @Winston_Amazon @Julia_Amzn
Seller_d8YGbIjNqwFxn
Assuming this is trademark UK00004078055 on the IPO website.
This trademark was only filed yesterday and is set to Examination status so hasn't yet been granted. You could try appealing to Amazon that the take down is incorrect as the trademark is not registered yet.
It may also be a chance now to object to the IPO about the trademark registration. It would be easier to object now rather than when it is fully registered. As there are several sellers impacted if you all object it may help.
If it is not the above trademark but another one that is fully registered then you can ask the IPO to invalidate it if registered incorrectly. This takes some time but once invalidated you can the appeal to Amazon to have the listings reinstated.
Seller_HwaQlgFnhSuGS
There are many things that Amazon get wrong and in my opinion this is one of them cases, and very clearly so.
I have just checked the UK register and the number UK00004078055 was literally submitted 21st June 2024 and is awaiting examination. The legal term on UK Gov is "The application is awaiting examination or has been examined.". By no means is this approved at this stage. At this stage the appilcation is being assesed as to its validity. Applying for a driving license does not mean you can drive!
It is not for AMZ to police a TM, thats for the lawyers.
Julia_Amzn
Hello @Seller_xySbvelx4DBqR,
Thank you for bringing this up!
I have been working on this with partner teams for a while: Fair Use of Someone else’s Trademark.
I will definitely look into your case and other sellers' cases whose IDs were provided in the comments.
I would appreciate even more examples, as they will help us improve the seller experience.
Thank you!
Julia.
