Intellectual Property Rights Claim on Amazon

When you make a copyright, intellectual property, trademark or patent claim on Amazon, it’s important to understand the process for retracting that claim if it turns out you’re wrong.

In this video I’ll explain the process for retracting those claims, and what to do if you need help.


Intellectual Property rights & complaints

A trademark is a recognizable sign, symbol, expression, etc. which is associated with a particular product or service. Trademarks can be owned by anyone and the unauthorized use of these protected marks is considered a punishable violation of IP rights.

Copyright is a type of IP right which provides the owner with exclusive rights to distribute, adapt, perform, and display their work for a specified period of time. Copyright infringement occurs when anyone uses the created work without express permission from the copyright owner and can result in extensive fines.

A patent is a type of IP right which affords the patent owner the right to exclude all others from making, selling, and using the product they have created for a period of time. A patent is violated when something with identical properties is produced or used by an unauthorized person or business and can result in fines for damages, loss of profit, etc.

How to get your seller account reinstated 

When you receive an IP complaint against your Amazon seller account, you should reach out to whoever lodged the complaint and ask for a retraction. Even if they do comply and send their retraction to Amazon, it may take Amazon an extended period of time to respond and reinstate your account. In order to ensure the process is effective and occurs in a timely manner there are several steps you can take including:

  • Get a copy of the retraction statement and make sure that it was done from the same email that the complaint was filed from
  • Make sure that the retraction states that the complaint was made in error, you do not need to specify on which end the error was made
  • Attach copies of the retraction to a Plan of Action and send it directly to Amazons seller support team