Amazon Brand Registry and Report Infringement: Removing Counterfeits

A kitchenware brand selling a $45 cast-iron press notices its best-selling ASIN now has eleven sellers in the Buy Box rotation. Nine of them ship from overseas, price at $19, and the reviews have started to mention cracked castings and chipped enamel. The brand's own rating has dropped from 4.7 to 4.1 in a month because every review lands on the same product page. Two of the counterfeit sellers have also copied the brand's photos onto a separate listing under a slightly different name.

This is what Amazon counterfeiting looks like from the inside: hijacked ASINs, review damage and copycat listings, often all at once. Amazon's tools for dealing with it are genuinely effective, but only for brands that have set them up correctly. This guide explains Amazon Brand Registry, the Report a Violation tool, the public Report Infringement form for brands that are not enrolled, how to build a complaint Amazon will act on, and what to do when the first attempt is rejected.

Two routes: enrolled brands and everyone else

	Brand Registry (enrolled)	Public Report Infringement form
Requirement	Registered or pending trademark in a supported office	None; anyone with rights can file
Tool	Report a Violation inside Brand Registry	amazon.com/report/infringement (and local equivalents)
Speed in our experience	Often within 24 to 72 hours for clear cases	Slower; several days to a week or more
Features	Automated protections, Project Zero, Transparency, listing control	Case-by-case removal only
Evidence weight	Brand is pre-verified	Each case verified from scratch

If you sell on Amazon and own a trademark, enrol. If you do not yet have a trademark, start the application; Amazon accepts pending applications from several offices, and the registration transforms your enforcement capability on and off Amazon.

Enrolling in Amazon Brand Registry

You need:

• an active registered trademark, or a pending application in a supported office (USPTO, UK IPO, EUIPO, CIPO, IP Australia and others), for a word mark or a design mark that includes words,
• the trademark registration or application number,
• images of the brand name on products and packaging,
• a list of product categories and the countries where you manufacture and distribute,
• an Amazon account (seller, vendor or neither; rights owners who do not sell on Amazon can still enrol).

Amazon verifies the trademark with the office and may send a verification code to the correspondent listed on the trademark record (often your attorney). Once enrolled, you can add additional trademarks and authorised users. Our trademark monitoring service helps brands get registrations in place for exactly this purpose.

Preparing a complaint that works

Amazon's reviewers see enormous volumes and act on complaints that are precise, categorised correctly and backed by evidence. Before you file, assemble:

1. The right violation type

Amazon separates violations and routes them to different teams. Choose carefully:

• Trademark – counterfeit: a product bearing your mark that is not genuine. Requires a test buy or other proof it is counterfeit.
• Trademark – unauthorised use: your brand name or logo used on a product or listing that is not yours (including in titles and bullets).
• Copyright – product images or text: your photos, A+ content or copy used on another listing.
• Patent: design or utility patent infringement (separate process, often requires a patent evaluation).
• Listing abuse (not IP): ASIN hijacking by sellers piggybacking a genuine listing with a different product, variation abuse, review manipulation. These go through Seller Support or Brand Registry's "Report abuse" rather than IP.

2. The ASINs and seller IDs

Capture the ASIN of every infringing listing and, for counterfeit sellers on your own ASIN, the seller name and seller ID from their storefront URL. Screenshot each offer with price, seller and date.

3. Evidence of infringement

• For counterfeit claims: a test buy. Order the product from the suspect seller, photograph the packaging, labels, product and any defects next to a genuine unit, and keep the order ID. Amazon weights test-buy evidence heavily and in our experience counterfeit complaints without a test buy are frequently rejected as unsubstantiated.
• For copyright claims: your original images or copy with creation dates and where you first published them, alongside the infringing listing's images.
• For unauthorised use: screenshots of the mark on the listing and your registration certificate.

4. Your ownership documents

Trademark registration number and office; copyright registration if you have one; proof you are authorised if you file for a client.

Filing through Brand Registry: Report a Violation

Inside Brand Registry, open Report a Violation. You can search by ASIN, product URL, keyword or seller to find listings, then select the offending ones. Choose the violation type, add the evidence described above and submit.

Writing the description:

The product offered by seller [name, ID] under ASIN [number] bears our registered trademark [mark, reg. no.] but is not a genuine product. A test purchase (Order [ID], received [date]) revealed [differences: wrong weight, misspelled label, different mould markings, absent batch code]. Photos comparing the purchased unit to a genuine unit are attached. This seller is not an authorised distributor.

Amazon typically emails a case ID and a decision. When accepted, the listing or offer is removed and the seller receives a notice. Repeat offenders face account suspension.

For copyright, the statutory declarations apply and Amazon's form includes them. Where you file by text, include: "I have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law" and "The information in this notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed."

Filing without Brand Registry: the public form

Amazon's Report Infringement form (amazon.com/report/infringement, with equivalents on each marketplace) is open to any rights owner or agent. It asks for the type of right, your registration details, the ASINs or URLs, a description and your contact information, plus the declarations.

It works, but the review is slower and the bar for evidence is the same, so include the test buy and the ownership documents. In our experience, non-enrolled brands often need two or three submissions to get a counterfeit listing removed, where an enrolled brand needs one. If you are selling at any scale on Amazon, the time spent enrolling pays back on the first case.

Automated and advanced protections

Brand Registry opens up tools that reduce the number of complaints you need to file at all:

• Automated protections: Amazon uses your brand data to proactively block suspected infringing listings. In our experience this catches a meaningful share of obvious copies before they go live.
• Project Zero: for eligible brands, self-service removal of counterfeit listings without waiting for Amazon review, plus product serialisation. Access requires an acceptance rate history on prior complaints, and misuse is penalised.
• Transparency: unique codes on each unit that Amazon scans before shipping and that customers can verify. Units without valid codes cannot be sold as your product. Effective but adds packaging cost and process.
• Brand Registry's IP Accelerator: connects brands to law firms for faster trademark filing with early Brand Registry access.

We help brands choose and run these as part of our anti-counterfeiting solutions.

Hijacked ASINs: a special case

When counterfeiters sell on your listing rather than creating their own, the problem is both counterfeit (a trademark violation) and listing abuse. The approach that works:

1. Test buy from each suspect seller.
2. File a counterfeit complaint per seller through Report a Violation, with the test-buy evidence.
3. Separately report the listing contribution abuse if sellers have changed your title, images or bullets.
4. Consider Transparency enrolment for the ASIN to lock out unauthorised units.
5. Monitor the Buy Box daily until the sellers are gone; new ones appear quickly when a product is being targeted.

When Amazon rejects or pushes back

Common rejection reasons and responses:

Rejection	What to do
"Insufficient evidence of counterfeit"	Add a test buy with comparison photos and order ID
"Trademark does not cover this product category"	Check your registration classes; file as unauthorised use or copyright instead if applicable
"Images are not identical"	Provide your originals with metadata and point to specific identical elements
"This is a legitimate reseller" (first-sale doctrine)	Genuine products resold are generally lawful; focus on counterfeits, altered goods or listing abuse
"Rights owner verification failed"	Ensure your contact details match the trademark record

Amazon also penalises rights owners who file inaccurate complaints, including removing Brand Registry access, so accuracy matters. Do not file counterfeit claims against sellers you merely do not want on your listing; legitimate resale of genuine goods is protected in most jurisdictions.

Off-Amazon follow-through

The same seller often operates on eBay, Walmart, AliExpress and a standalone site using your photos. A coordinated filing across marketplaces on the same day is far more effective than sequential ones. See our eBay takedown page and the intellectual property protection overview.

Doing it yourself or using an agent

An enrolled brand with one counterfeit seller can handle it in-house. The case for an agent: dozens of sellers across multiple ASINs and marketplaces, repeated rejections, hijacked listings that need daily monitoring, or no time for test buys and evidence files.

DMCA Master handles Amazon enforcement daily. We charge $100 per successfully removed URL or listing (no removal, no fee) or $10 per hour for ongoing protection with a dedicated specialist working 40 hours a week, billed weekly at $400, cancel any time. See our Amazon takedown page and pricing.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a trademark to remove counterfeits from Amazon? For counterfeit complaints, yes; a counterfeit is by definition an unauthorised use of a trademark. Without one, you can still report stolen photos and text under copyright through the public form.

How long does Amazon take to remove an infringing listing? In our experience, enrolled brands with complete evidence see action within 24 to 72 hours; the public form can take a week or more.

Is a test buy really necessary? For counterfeit claims it is the single most persuasive piece of evidence and most rejections we see are for complaints that lack one.

Can I remove a seller who is selling my genuine product without authorisation? Generally not under IP rules; resale of genuine goods is lawful in most jurisdictions. Listing abuse, altered products or misleading condition claims are separate grounds.

Does Amazon Brand Registry work in the UK, EU and Australia? Yes. Enrolment is per trademark office and you can add registrations for each marketplace region where you sell.

---

This article is general information about Amazon's IP processes and not legal advice. If counterfeit or copycat listings are damaging your Amazon business, request a free analysis and a specialist will map every infringing listing within 24 hours.