Trademark Misuse - Amazon is no help
I realize this topic is getting discussed a lot recently but comments seem to get closed fairly quickly by the Amazon Bots. I'm starting to think that Amazon is nearly 100% AI run as there is almost never any real help for any issues we have as seller but I digress.
The issue:
My Brand name is "Olive Loves Apple" We are fully brand registered and have a fully issued and active trademark that has been in use since 2014.
Trademark "misuse": Amazon has now deactivated over 20 SKU's because we are misusing the trademark "Apple" - As if we are infringing on Apple, the computer/ phone company's IP. We sell children's clothes and the only time the word "Apple" appears in in the auto populated beginning of our titles and some bullet points talking about our brand.
Every time I create a case to resolve this issue and make sure that our over 10,000 active SKU's don't just keep getting swept by some automaton on a mission, Amazon can't or won't help.
The case resolutions are: Change the title - I can't and I should have to. I'm not infringing on anyone's IP.
They say, get a letter from Apple acknowledging your licensing agreement. Nope, I am not licensing anything from them. Completely unrelated.
Change your brand name... What? I spent 10 years building this brand and investing in marketing. I did nothing wrong. No.
Also, I've had to wait on hold for way too many hours when you select to be on a phone call and I know they are just disconnecting the call because they don't know what to say.
So what am I supposed to do? I would like someone at Amazon to take ownership and show that they care. Maybe try to give an answer other than, "the system just does what it does. Sorry".
To clarify, "Apple" is not sending us any infringement notices or IP violations. They wouldn't dare attempt these stupid IP notices. This is Amazon's doing. It's clear that "Olive Loves Apple" children's clothing is not causing any brand confusion with "Apple" the technology company.
Has anyone had success in getting one of these trademark misuse issues actually fixed or do I just have to create 10,000 cases or wait for our business and 12 employees to be put out of work by Amazon?
Trademark Misuse - Amazon is no help
I realize this topic is getting discussed a lot recently but comments seem to get closed fairly quickly by the Amazon Bots. I'm starting to think that Amazon is nearly 100% AI run as there is almost never any real help for any issues we have as seller but I digress.
The issue:
My Brand name is "Olive Loves Apple" We are fully brand registered and have a fully issued and active trademark that has been in use since 2014.
Trademark "misuse": Amazon has now deactivated over 20 SKU's because we are misusing the trademark "Apple" - As if we are infringing on Apple, the computer/ phone company's IP. We sell children's clothes and the only time the word "Apple" appears in in the auto populated beginning of our titles and some bullet points talking about our brand.
Every time I create a case to resolve this issue and make sure that our over 10,000 active SKU's don't just keep getting swept by some automaton on a mission, Amazon can't or won't help.
The case resolutions are: Change the title - I can't and I should have to. I'm not infringing on anyone's IP.
They say, get a letter from Apple acknowledging your licensing agreement. Nope, I am not licensing anything from them. Completely unrelated.
Change your brand name... What? I spent 10 years building this brand and investing in marketing. I did nothing wrong. No.
Also, I've had to wait on hold for way too many hours when you select to be on a phone call and I know they are just disconnecting the call because they don't know what to say.
So what am I supposed to do? I would like someone at Amazon to take ownership and show that they care. Maybe try to give an answer other than, "the system just does what it does. Sorry".
To clarify, "Apple" is not sending us any infringement notices or IP violations. They wouldn't dare attempt these stupid IP notices. This is Amazon's doing. It's clear that "Olive Loves Apple" children's clothing is not causing any brand confusion with "Apple" the technology company.
Has anyone had success in getting one of these trademark misuse issues actually fixed or do I just have to create 10,000 cases or wait for our business and 12 employees to be put out of work by Amazon?
0 replies
Seller_HH57ZbA7Hx0Ks
If you get a solution, please post it here. Having the same problem. Brand we sell has three words, is a registered TM, Amazon thinks we are infringing on another brand that is one of the three words. sigh
Seller_HH57ZbA7Hx0Ks
A follow up on a possible solution.
I have been using the chat system to talk to Amazon.
I was advised to provide a pdf (available from USPTO) rather than a screen capture of the trademark (In your case, "Olive Loves Apple".)
I was further advised that they can't escalate for resolution until the ASIN is no longer active ( this is strange, because the notice from Amazon tells us to resolve it by a certain date, or the ASIN will be delisted......it seems we can only get it solved once it is delisted).
Also, you can deal with multiple ASINS in the same case, but they all should be the exact same problem.
Seller_gC8zhroXlURLU
Amazon seems to be taking on the role of arbitrator of trademark issues when there is no trademark issue. If no one is protesting your use of words in your trademark then there is no issue.
They seem to be taking apart trademarked phrases and looking at one word, in your case "apple". Plus I'd guess that the categories in which Apple has their trademarks isn't even close to the categories in which you sell.
Please post a resolution if/when you get one
Seller_jaq2QgAWi0Ile
Are you enrolled in "Account Health Assurance"?
If so, on Account Health page, there is a huge box with a "Call Me Now" button.
The exact issue happened to me on one of my products that uses an adjective in the title, and the adjective is also a registered trademark (come on USPTO, seriously?)
The brand knows their brand name causes confusion and does not defend fair use of the adjective if not an obvious infringement.
But.
The amazon bot doesn't know that. And from time to time, our ASIN is removed, bad things happen, FBA stranded inventory, etc...
The first time, my lawyer had to contact Amazon Legal, and the whole thing was resolved in a day. The second time, I just use the Account Health "Call Me Now", spoke to a rep and referenced the prior case. The ASIN was restored within hours. The thrid time, I requested the ASIN gets flagged so the bot doesn't gpo stupid on us again. Knock on wood -- it's been about 2 years since the last time this happened.
I hope you can reach the legal team and explain that this is bot driven, and not an IP complaint from a trademark owner.
Seller_M1uvFwfmXhhTM
This may be a help for your situation.
About a decade ago our brand that is trademarked and is in GS1 as well as Amazon branding was deactivated for trademark infringement/abuse.
I forwarded all the information that was requested by Amazon with no avail.
This continued for about a week, but thankfully a decade ago we were able to get someone on the phone.
Amazon never likes to give you a reason why they are deactivating an ASIN they leave it to you to figure out.
After speaking with several Amazon associates I was lucky enough to have an associate convey why our listings were deactivated. Bless that person’s heart!
The reason why we received a trademark infringement or abuse was that we had our trademark name / Brand name in the bullet points of the ASIN.
You had mentioned in your original post
”We sell children's clothes and the only time the word "Apple" appears in in the auto populated beginning of our titles and some bullet points talking about our brand”
Your brand-name should NOT be in any of the bullet points on ANY of your ASIN.
Once we removed our brand-name from our bullet points our ASIN were reinstated within 24 hours.
I would suggest you immediately remove your brand names from your bullet points and see if your ASIN’s get reinstated.
Emet_Amazon
Hello @Seller_14BMNBzTl82P5,
Thank you for posting your concerns with suspected intellectual property violations
My Brand name is "Olive Loves Apple" We are fully brand registered and have a fully issued and active trademark that has been in use since 2014.
Trademark "misuse": Amazon has now deactivated over 20 SKU's because we are misusing the trademark "Apple" - As if we are infringing on Apple, the computer/ phone company's IP. We sell children's clothes and the only time the word "Apple" appears in in the auto populated beginning of our titles and some bullet points talking about our brand.
As you've explained the situation, your brand is "Olive Loves Apple" and that about 20 sku's were removed due to a misuse of the phrase "Apple". As mentioned by @Seller_M1uvFwfmXhhTM, there could be a situation where the brand or phrasing is being used outside the brand attribute or title. I would recommend checking out our trademark: FAQ help page as it does advise not using brands in bullet points. As they had also suggested, updating your listings, they should be eligible to be reinstated automatically, as noted typically within 24-48 hours.
Have you attempted to update the listing details, if so were your changes accepted and violation resolved?
If you still feel this is in error, we do advise creating a case with our seller support teams for an additional review of the ASIN. If found compliant, or if additional supporting evidence is received to show compliance, the listings may also be eligible for reactivation.
As it does sound like you have created cases to escalate the situation, could you provide the related case here so that we can look further into the situation?
.The forums community and I are here to support you. Please let us know how we can help you from this point forward.
Emet.
Seller_NRbSrvQsLSXts
I am encountering this same issue. I sell cables and one type of cable I sell is an RCA cable. Even though 1000s of other seller including amazon basis sell with RCA cable in the title and description I have had a listing removed for trademark misuse. I have spoke to numerous people on chat and email and I just get the same response as you. Remove the word or get a letter of authorisation from rca. Who I am sure are not aware at all and a clothing company from what I could see.
RCA is the type of cable ends its not a cable for rca. Its like selling washing machine and being told washing is a trademark.
Id be extremely grateful if anyone ever manages to solve this issue.
I have also never found seller support so unreasonable to listen to the reasonings. They are completely dismissive or my explanation as to why it is not trademark misuse.
Seller_z2QNoPZSaJ0cV
We are equally getting hit with about 5 trademark miss-use each day. We have called customer service as to why, they say we have a hypen in the name--but as an authorized retailer of this brand --it's name IS hyphenated. We had staff spend hours yesterday going through close to a hundred listings removing hyphens, only to find that did no good as we cannot change the manufacturer --which has a hyphen.
Then to make matters worse, now listings that have been closed for 4-5 years are coming up as a trademark misuse.
This is nonsense and ridiculous. Whoever turned this bot loose, ought to be fired.
Seller_r9wMm8LrE5iKj
[Moderator Edit: removed inappropriate commentary]
