Rights Owner Letters Help Brands With Amazon Complaint Issues
When a brand owner submits a complaint, the seller typically does not have the chance to respond or defend themselves at that time. As a result, the product is immediately removed until the legal dispute is resolved, and as this issue can also affect the seller’s account, the seller will also be required to resolve any repercussions of this action.
The fastest way to regain the product from removal is not through arguing with Amazon; it is through successfully resolving the dispute directly with the brand owner.
On average, the Rights Owner Letter allows the seller to resolve the dispute with the complainant.
Why Amazon Complaints Do Not Start With Amazon
Most complaints filed on Amazon are filed by brand owners (or their representatives) as opposed to Amazon. Amazon does not perform any sort of investigation into the underlying situation that occurred regarding the IP complaint. When someone files a Rights Owner Complaint, Amazon accepts that complaint and begins taking action based on that complaint.
For this reason, appeals submitted to Amazon typically take a long time. They must be submitted to the party who submitted the IP complaint and not to Amazon.
The Rights Owner Letter is a direct effort to resolve the matter directly with the complainant.
What a Rights Owner Letter Does
The Rights Owner Letter is an official submission that goes directly to the individual who filed the complaint. The Rights Owner Letter contains evidence along with the legal rationalization for why the complaint is incorrect, without basis, and/or can be resolved without the complaint needing to remain open.
A Rights Owner Letter can typically include:
- Supply chain records
- Invoices and evidence of sales
- Letters of authorization (if needed)
- Legal rationalization, first sale doctrine, and nominative fair use
- Resolution proposals (when bundling or presentation is an issue)
When brand owners receive documentation in their possession that they can’t dispute, many choose to retract the complaint as opposed to defending themselves against the complaint.
Real Scenarios Where Complaints Were Retracted
When One Brand has Multiple Trademark Complaints
When one brand has filed multiple trademark complaints against a client, a concise and thorough letter can be written to address all of the trademark complaints at once. Many times, multiple trademark complaints have been retracted following one submission containing a complete explanation of where products were sourced and who had the right to sell those products.
Counterfeit Complaints Without Test Buys
Often, a complaint has been filed regarding a counterfeit item and the brand owner has not purchased the counterfeit item. Rather, the filing was made based on facts such as price, identity of the seller, or an automatic flag.
As long as the seller can provide complete invoices and supply chain documentation to establish that they obtained their product legitimately, those complaints will be denied and withdrawn.
Trademark Complaints Involving Bundled Products
The use of bundled listings often triggers trademark complaints. However, sometimes the issue is not with the actual item but rather how the item is presented.
Negotiated resolutions like listing “Repackaged By [Seller]” or modifying the title may resolve the situation for the brand owner and allow a retraction of all associated trademark complaints. In order to ultimately reinstate the remaining listings, a letter of authorization may be sent to the seller.
Complaints From Brand Protection Services
Brand protection services file bulk complaints on behalf of a variety of different brands. Many times these services are automated systems that file a claim without being exactly right.
When a claim is filed against a brand or seller by a brand protection service, and the seller presents the required documentation to both the brand protection service and the original brand, the complaint is usually retracted.
Parallel Import (Gray Market) Complaints
In a Parallel Import complaint, genuine products are acquired in one market and resell in another. Brand owners have a tendency to complain about parallel imports, even when the products were purchased legally (under the First Sale Doctrine).
An accurate explanation of where products were purchased legally has been conceded upon in several cases as a result of documentation and clarification of how the product was obtained.
Copyright Complaints
In copyright complaints, complaints can be directed at descriptions of the product and information included within the product detail page. In these cases, affidavits explaining how the inventory was acquired and how the content of the product detail page was created and supporting documentation has resulted in complaint withdrawal.
Why Rights Owner Letters Work
Amazon investigates complaints that are submitted to them by Brand Owners. The “Rights Owner Letter” is directed to the decision-maker responsible for retracting the complaint(s). Rights Owner Letters provide:
- Proof Of Legitimate Sourcing
- Establishment Of The Legal Authority To Resell
- Disputes The Basis For The Automated Enforcement Or Mistaken Enforcement
- Proposes A Reasonable Solution As Needed
Most complaints do not arise out of malice; rather, they arise out of automation, assumptions, and/or missing/incomplete information. Evidence changes results.
Documentation That Leads to Retractions
The most effective submissions are those that include the following:
- Full invoice copies that detail the products purchased
- Supplier / distributor information
- Authorization letter(s), if applicable
- Affidavit(s) that detail how the product was sourced
- Product authentication records
- Supply chain documentation
Partial evidence can still be used to challenge unsupported complaints and the strongest results tend to be produced when submitting complete evidence.
Timeline Expectations
For some complainants, they will respond to your inquiry within days; however, for others, it may take weeks. As such, expect to perform several follow-ups before an outcome will be resolved.
When attempting to resolve a complaint directly with the complainant versus appealing to Amazon repeatedly, it usually takes less time and provides a more effective resolution.
Common Complaint Patterns
Based upon previous cases, the types of complaints we have seen retracted most often include:
- Counterfeit claims submitted without a purchase for testing
- Parallel import claims submitted with appropriate supporting documentation
- Automated brand protection service claims submitted
- Product bundled claims that were resolved through negotiation between the parties
Not all cases can be handled this way – some complaints have merit and require different strategies than others. Of these documents, many do not have sufficient evidence to support the validity of the claim through documentation.
The Core Insight
When the complaint is issued to the seller from Amazon, it is from the actual owner of the brand who is making the complaint.
When sellers are able to provide the seller with legitimate evidence to what the seller is actually complaining about, they will have much higher success rates in retracting than simply appealing.
For a direct evaluation of your Amazon Rights Owner complaint and whether a Rights Owner Letter may lead to retraction, get in touch with us by filling up this form or call 212-256-1109.
About The Author
CJ Rosenbaum founded Amazon Sellers Lawyer and has practiced law since 1995. His firm has worked exclusively on Amazon seller legal issues since 2016. He’s authored six books on Amazon seller legal topics. The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Bloomberg, and FOX Business regularly quote him on Amazon seller matters. He teaches at the Prosper Show in Las Vegas, Global Sources Summit, and Retail Global. The firm represents Amazon sellers globally across multiple international marketplaces.