Maria Speth - Amazon Brand Registry and Trademark Questions Answered

Maria Speth – Amazon Brand Registry and Trademark Questions Answered

Maria Speth is a trademark attorney who specialized in intellectual property for online sellers. Listen in to Kevin Rizer’s conversation with Maria Speth – Amazon Brand Registry and Trademark Questions Answered.

“I make my money in the courtroom but I spend time lecturing people on how to stay out of the courtroom.” – Maria Speth on the power of prevention

Into Intellectual Property

Maria decided to pursue law while she was already in college. She fell in love with the intellectual property during her internship.

“The definition of a trademark is anything that identifies the source or the brand for the goods or services” – Maria Speth

After awhile in practice, she dove into it full time. She remembers her first infringement case involved a former employee who changed his former employer’s forms into his.

On Trademarks and Registers

Intellectual property is something that every seller has to consider in the very beginning. Maria acknowledges that it is expensive and unappealing. But it needs to be dealt with properly.

“It’s harder to protect a descriptive trademark….it’s important that you register your trademark on the Principal Register.” – Maria Speth

Think about it even before you name your product. You don’t want to use a name that is already being used by somebody else.

Requirements of Amazon’s Brand Registry Program

Maria has found Amazon to be responsive to specific cases. She acknowledges the difficulty of running a large scale interactive website, and Amazon has been doing it well so far.

“Amazon’s Brand Registry was much simpler…. now you have to prove you have a registered trademark” – Maria Speth

With the changes in the Brand Registry Program, it is important that sellers know what they need to do. According to Maria, there are basically three requirements. First is that a brand is registered, second is that is in a standard format, and third is that it is on the Principal Register.

Download and listen to Maria Speth – Amazon Brand Registry and Trademark Questions Answered. You can also find The Private Label Movement on iTunes and Stitcher.