Hey, what’s up?
Today, I wanted to share my experiences about trademarks classes and everything you need to know related to print-on-demand, ecommerce and Amazon Merch.
Copyrights and trademarks classes are very important topics to understand in order to keep your accounts safe. And so if you’re struggling with rejections on Amazon Merch and other print-on-demand platform, then this video is for you.
I’m going to talk more specifically about Amazon Merch because they strictly enforce trademarks classes, and it is probably your most valuable account. But you can apply that to any ecommerce print-on-demand business.
I created a post on my website on trademarks and how they affect ecommerce and print-on-demand, so you can go back at any moment if you need to remember something.
So let’s go right in.
1- WHAT ARE TRADEMARKS?
Trademarks are special names and/or symbols that a business can register in order to legally own and protect that trademark.
2- EXAMPLE: AMAZON
So, for example: the company Amazon trademarked the name “Amazon” and trademarked their own logo. This basically means that they own that name and that logo. And because they own that name and logo, we cannot use them on designs or anything because we do not own these things.
3- EXAMPLE: GOOGLE
The company Google trademarked the name “Google” and trademarked their own logo. This basically means that they own that name and that logo. And because they own that name and logo, we cannot use them on designs or anything because we do not own these things.
This is where tools like Podly where you can search for trademarks are so handy, you can search for terms that could potentially be trademarked, and you can’t for design creation. Especially when it’s related to text.
And each trademark is registered in their specific “offices” or country, meaning that you can’t use that trademark in that specific country or marketplace. Google and Amazon are obviously a massive brand, and so they are trademarked worldwide.
I’m giving very obvious examples here because everybody knows Amazon and Google.
4- LESS OBVIOUS EXAMPLE
Let’s find another example less obvious: LET IT SNOW
As I am writing this, LET IT SNOW is only registered in 2 marketplaces: GB and DE.
Let’s find another example less obvious: MOST LIKELY TO
As I am writing this, MOST LIKELY TO is only registered in 2 marketplaces: GB and EM.
5- WHAT ARE TRADEMARK CLASSES?
Trademark classes are a way to categorize different trademarks depending on the nature of the product or service. And so each trademark is also given a class depending on the product or service.
I created a list of all these classes on my website. I also highlighted the most important classes that are relevant in the print-on-demand and ecommerce business.
The most relevant for Amazon merch are: 25, 9, 18, and 20.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, trademarks and trademark classes are an important thing to know if you’re selling online through ecommerce and print-on-demand websites. If you’re not careful, you risk getting into legal complications and/or getting some of your accounts suspended.
So that’s pretty much it, I hope this was helpful to you. If this blog was valuable to you, you could consider following me on social media and if you have any thoughts or comments, you can leave them below.
I hope this helps, peace!
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