Understanding Different Merch Informer Tools: Trademark Module

When dealing with marketing and sales online, you want to get the hottest and latest items out there, but you also don’t want any problems while doing so. And you certainly do not want issues with the platform you are selling through as they are the landlords to your store, so-to-speak. Strikes on your account can eventually ruin your chances out there to be a successful seller. On the flip side, trademarks are important when you are protecting your items, so you can understand why you do not want the headache of infringing on someone else’s TM.

Luckily, MerchInformer has the exact tool you need, and it’s a pretty powerful one. Let’s talk a little about why respecting trademarks is important so you’ll have a better understanding of why you want to avoid such issues. We’ll do so from the TM owner’s point of view.

DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE PROTECTION OF A TRADEMARK

For a number of reasons, trademark registration is crucial.

• Registering a trademark gives your company’s name, logo, or tagline legal defense, something you can prove in court if it ever comes to that.
• It grants you the sole right to use your trademark in connection with the products or services it covers, as well as the ability to stop others from using a mark that is either identical to yours or confusingly similar in the same industry.
• A registered trademark aids in avoiding consumer uncertainty regarding the source of goods or services.
• When a trademark is registered, it is simpler for customers to distinguish your goods and services from those of your rivals.

Think of any brand that you like and then think of the products that try to imitate them. Which would you always want? The one you’re certain of, of course.

Establishing this brand recognition and loyalty can be aided by that registered trademark. Additionally, it may be simpler to grow your company into new areas if you have a powerful trademark that helps you stand out from the competition.

A registered trademark can be a useful asset for your company because it can raise its worth and make it more appealing to investors or potential buyers. Because many nations have reciprocal agreements that recognize trademarks registered in other nations, registering your trademark can also give you protection in other nations.

Overall, trademark registration can offer your company and brand a number of advantages and protections, making it a vital step for any organization trying to build a strong and identifiable presence in the marketplace. All of this together is why you do not want the hassle of infringement and getting cease & desist letters hitting your company. Now, we can also already hear the cries from the back asking “But what if we didn’t know what we were selling was trademarked?”, and that is a valid question. And it’s the sole reason the Trademark Module exists on the MerchInformer site.

THE MERCHINFORMER TRADEMARK ALERTS MODULE

No one can remember every trademark out there and the deeper you go into this the more you’ll be surprised on what is actually trademarked. The trickiest thing is that what is fine now could be protected months and even years from now, and unless you are that TM holder, you have no leg to stand on. This is the real strength of the module, as its main function is to alert you to exactly this sort of thing even when you’ve completely forgotten about it.

This Trademarks Alert Module allows you to put in specific keywords and call up existing trademarks. This will help you make important decisions early on. Like that slogan? Check it out, and if it’s trademarked, you’ve already saved yourself the headache of designing something you were never going to be able to sell anyhow. There are the obvious ones (you’re not going to produce Disney merch on the sly), but even obscure TM holders are out there and since they have more to lose in an infringement, they’ll come after you quicker and you otherwise would have no idea what was going on.

But what if it’s not yet trademarked? What if you’ve already been selling something for months and it’s been fine all along? Well, you can keep up to date on any TM status through the module. And it’s really so simple: you enter a keyword or a phrase into it and it will scan once every 24 hours to see if anything matching it has been registered as a trademark. This will allow you to make changes to the product before you get hit by the TM owner or with a strike from the platform. The platforms do not want the legal headaches, so you will wind up being the one to get the brunt of it.

It will save everything you enter into it and you can also manually refresh to see if there is a specific word or phrase you are most interested in and are waiting on word about. You also need to be aware that you might not get a negative response for the specific item you are trying to produce, but it could be for a brand name overall. You might have to dig deeper into seeing if what you’re doing would be allowed, but this is a fantastic first step into getting there.

The second part of the module is the “Trademark Hunter”, and this is where we get into the particular details. If you want to know about specific items and bullet points in your listings, you can create a .CSV file of the ASIN’s you are interested in checking and the system will check (within 24 hours) if any of your bullet points are registered, pending (filed but not yet registered), or have been approved for publication but have not gone out yet. This is a fantastic and powerful tool because it goes into Merch By Amazon and compares live listings to what you are planning to put up and gives you all the needed info about each within a day. This will help you avoid ever getting a strike on your Amazon account in the quickest way we currently have.

SOUND COMPLICATED? OUR TUTORIALS MAKE IT SIMPLE

Go to the MerchInformer site and register (if you have not already done so). You will find the “Tutorials” link on the left and once you click that you’ll get a series of horizontal tabs and a video lesson on this module will be found under the “Trademarks” tab. Give it a listen or two and much will be explained about its functionality and you can get right in there and get started.

Or if you prefer an old fashioned written step-by-step, just follow the instructions from the module’s original launch page here!