Amazon Project Zero represents the evolution of Brand Registry, where they allow sellers to police & protect their Trademarked products.
Ever since Amazon opened their marketplace to global sellers, there's been an influx of counterfeit offers across best selling products.
It's easy to understand why:
Would you rather start a new branded product listing & take the time to build sales history & reviews, hoping to slowly climb to the top of organic search results
-OR-
Add an offer to the current best seller in a category, undercutting the person that created the product listing & worked hard to rank it?
Well, it definitely depends on your morals and how far you're willing to go in pursuit of a dollar.
Given the anonymity of selling on Amazon, it's not hard for some people to check their morals at the door and do "hijack" a listing.
Check out my article on how to remove hijackers from your Amazon listings »
There are automated tools that can crawl Amazon's catalog to find vulnerable, high-revenue listings for hijackers to pounce on, so you have to protect yourself!
I promise you that hijackers wont go away any time soon, even with the threat of Project Zero.
So what can we do to protect ourselves from the threat they pose to our business?
Everyone should Trademark their brand & enroll it in Amazon Brand Registry, which just so happens to be the first step if you want to participate in Project Zero.
Check out my article on how to enroll in Brand Registry »
After you're enrolled, go to the Project Zero website & join the waitlist.
Amazon Project Zero Information & Terms
After your application is approved, you'll be allowed to proceed to the opt-in page which is required before you can use the tool. You'll have to read through the following information, before taking a quiz that proves to Amazon you understand the terms of service for using their self-service counterfeit removal tool.
URL: https://brandregistry.amazon.com/projectzero/enroll#/confirmation
Introduction and use of the self-service counterfeit removal tool
As part of Project Zero, you will have the privilege of removing counterfeit listings on your own from Amazon stores using the "self-service counterfeit removal" tool. Review this document carefully as it describes the permissible uses of this self-service counterfeit removal tool. Access to this tool is a privilege that Amazon may revoke at any time.
The self-service counterfeit removal tool is to be used only to remove listings for the sale of counterfeit goods. It is NOT to be used to remove offers for goods that you believe infringe other intellectual property, violate other Amazon selling policies but are not counterfeits, or that you otherwise believe should be removed but are not counterfeits. In addition, the self-service counterfeit removal tool is not designed to enforce counterfeit claims against trade dress or product configuration. If you have a registered mark protecting the shape or design of a product itself and believe that a product infringes that mark, you should report those items through the Report a Violation tool.
When you remove a listing using the self-service counterfeit removal tool, a notice will be sent to the seller informing them that a complaint has been filed against their listing. Although your takedowns will happen automatically when you use the self-service counterfeit removal tool, Amazon will audit your removals to ensure that you are removing only counterfeit items. If you fail to maintain a high accuracy in removing counterfeit listings, you will lose access to the self-service counterfeit removal tool.
If you have multiple registered trademarks, it is important that you select the correct trademark registration number for the item you are removing.
What are counterfeits?
Counterfeiting is a specific type of trademark infringement. A counterfeit is an unlawful total or partial reproduction of a registered trademark-or a mark that is very similar to a registered trademark-in connection with the sale of a product. Counterfeiting requires the use of a registered trademark on the product or packaging to imply that the product is genuine. A similar looking item sold on a separate product detail page without the improper use of a registered trademark is not a counterfeit, even though the item might look similar or identical to the trademarked product.
ASIN vs. offer removal
With the self-service counterfeit removal tool, you will have the ability to remove entire ASINs or specific offers on an ASIN. It is imperative that you only remove an entire ASIN only if the ASIN itself is for a counterfeit product. If some offers are for the sale of legitimate goods and some are for the sale of counterfeits, you must remove only those specific offers from sellers that you know to be selling counterfeit goods.
If you remove an entire ASIN when there are offers for both authentic and inauthentic products listed against that ASIN, your removal will be considered misuse of the tool, even if the action does result in some offers for counterfeit items correctly being removed.
Submission History
You can track the status of the listings you have removed through the self-service counterfeit removal tool in your Submission History. You are encouraged to regularly review your Submission History to ensure that you have been removing items accurately.
Reinstated listings
If you removed an offer and see that the offer has been reinstated, do not use the self-service counterfeit removal tool to remove that listing again, even if you believe that the listing was reinstated in error. If you believe that a counterfeit has been reinstated erroneously, use the "escalate previously submitted issue" contact type within support to get help from our team.
Retractions
If you remove a listing in error, you should immediately file a notice of retraction using the 'Retract a complaint' link in Submission History.
Access to the tool
Only rights owners are allowed to access features of Project Zero. After you successfully complete this training and the quiz below, you will be provided with access to the self-service counterfeit removal tool. You are the only person authorized to use this tool and allowing others to access your account is prohibited.
Other forms of intellectual property infringement
Again, the self-service counterfeit removal tool is to be used only to remove listings for the sale of counterfeit goods. If you believe that a listing infringes your intellectual property rights or violates Amazon's selling policies but is not a counterfeit, you should continue to use the Report a Violation tool (provided once you enroll in Brand Registry) to report such listings. Notices submitted for other forms of infringement will not lead to an automatic removal of the reported listing but will go through our standard investigation process.
Using the self-service counterfeit removal tool to remove non-counterfeit items will be considered abuse of the feature even if the removed listings otherwise infringe your intellectual property or violate Amazon's policies.
Amazon Project Zero Quiz
After you complete the quiz, you should be able to use the self-service counterfeit removal tool.
URL: https://brandregistry.amazon.com/projectzero/removal
1) I see a listing for a product that has my registered trademark on the product, but I never made or licensed my trademark for use on such a product. Can I remove the listing?
Yes - In this scenario, if you do not make or license a product displaying your trademark, all such products are necessarily counterfeit. You should remove the entire ASIN using the self-service counterfeit removal tool.
2) I saw a listing for a product that looks exactly like mine and so I conducted a test buy. The product that arrived infringed my copyrights and design patents. The product and packaging do not display my registered trademark, but the product could confuse customers. I even see reviews saying that customers think the product came from me. Can I use the self-service tool to remove this listing?
No - This product does not display your registered trademarks and is not a counterfeit. You can report this product through the Report a Violation tool as either copyright or design patent infringement.
3) A lot of different sellers are listing offers on a product that my company actually makes and some of them look suspicious. I conducted test buys from two different sellers and each of the products that arrived displayed my trademark but was not authentic. Can I remove these listings?
Yes - Since some offers listing on this ASIN are for counterfeit products and some are genuine, you can use the self-service counterfeit removal tool to remove the specific offers from the sellers from whom you conducted test buys and determined the products to be counterfeit.
4) A lot of different sellers are listing offers on a product that my company makes, and my company actually sells products to one of these sellers. But the seller's contract with my company makes clear that they are not allowed to resell the items on Amazon, so the seller is breaching our contract by listing this item. Can I remove this listing?
No - Amazon respects a manufacturer's right to enter into exclusive distribution agreements for its products. However, violations of such agreements do not constitute intellectual property rights infringement. As the enforcement of these agreements is a matter between the manufacturer and the resellers, Amazon does not assist in this type of enforcement activity.
5) Many different sellers are listing offers on a product that my company actually makes, and that displays my company's trademark. Some of the sellers looked suspicious, so I made a test buy from one seller. The item that arrived did not have my company's trademark on it, but otherwise copied my company's 3D copyrights. Can I remove the listing using the self-service tool?
No - If a seller is advertising your company's products and shipping non-counterfeit but infringing product, you can report this listing as violating your copyrights if you believe that it does so using the Report a Violation tool.
You should now be able to use the self-service counterfeit removal tool!
Ready to police your listings & show those hijackers who's boss?
Project Zero Self-Service Counterfeit Removal Tool
Before you begin using the tool... Remember to follow the rules!
I provided you the answers to the quiz, but it's actually very valuable to read through the terms & conditions to avoid having your access revoked.
For step 1 of using the tool, you need to locate the infringing ASIN or offer.
I did a simple ASIN lookup, because I wanted to remove a counterfeit offer from one of my best-selling listings:
* click to expand
The offers will not be shown by default - you'll need to click the "Show all offers" link to make hem visible.
From here, I saw my offer & the hijacker's offer. I clicked to select his offer & clicked the "Next button".
On the following screen you provide the following before submitting your removal claim:
- Brand name
- Trademark being infringed
- Test buy order ID (Don't skip this step...)
- Contact Name
- Contact email
* click to expand
When you're ready, lick the "Remove counterfeit" button.
In my experience it took about ~2 hours before I received an email confirming that the fraudulent listing was removed:
Hello,
Thank you for using the Project Zero self-service counterfeit removal tool. The following items you submitted through the Project Zero self-service counterfeit removal tool were removed from the Amazon store:
Complaint ID: [HIDDEN]
Amazon store: Amazon.com
ASIN: [HIDDEN]
Title: [HIDDEN]
Please ensure you maintain a high accuracy in your counterfeit removal submissions to retain access to the Project Zero self-service counterfeit removal tool.
Sincerely,
The Amazon Project Zero Team
I went to my product listing to confirm that it had in fact been removed, & yep! It was gone :)
Sorry hijacker! You've been...
