What is Amazon IP Complaint? How to Avoid IP Complaints

If you’ve received an Intellectual Property complaint from Amazon, take it seriously. Don’t simply delete it from your Seller Central and forget. If you get it once again, chances are that Amazon will suspend your account.

Keep reading to find out everything you need about IP complaints, how to deal with them, and how to avoid complaints from a brand when selling on Amazon.

What is the IP Claim?

IP complaints are intellectual property rights violations. If you’ve received a notification of IP infringement, a brand owner filed an IP complaint to Amazon for a specific ASIN. By doing so, brand owners claim that Amazon merchants, who sell their product under a particular detail page, do it in breach of intellectual property rights.

Types of IP rights on Amazon

• copyrights (authorship);
• trademarks (brand’s identifier):
• patents (rights for the inventions).

Note: Amazon has introduced an IP claims policy to give extra legal protections to Amazon FBA sellers. However, it’s very often abused by competitors. If you think that this has happened, notify Amazon.

IP Complaints vs. Brand Restrictions

IP claims are different from brand restrictions. If you received approval from Amazon to sell the restricted brand, this doesn’t mean you won’t get IP claims.

Restricted brands

Amazon may restrict specific brands or ASINs. You can see that in your Seller Central. When you try and list a product of a restricted brand, Amazon will tell you that you are not eligible to sell the brand. Sometimes, you can get permission from Amazon to sell a restricted brand.

Note: You can check if a brand is restricted with Seller Assistant App Restrictions Checker in one click. You can also check restrictions in bulk.

IP claims

Even though you received approval from Amazon to sell a gated brand, there is a chance that you’ll get an IP claim. Some brands have structured distributor networks and closely monitor who sells their products on Amazon. Therefore, if you sell a product of such a brand without their approval, they’ll file a claim to Amazon.

Types of Messages with Amazon IP Complaints

You can get two types of messages containing IP claims – from Amazon and buyers/brands. 

Amazon IP infringement notice

The marketplace shifts all responsibility for IP compliance to Amazon sellers. You must respond if they’ve sent you a message about IP infringement. Amazon classifies IP claims as an account health issues. Multiple complaints may lead to account suspension.

These messages appear in an email from Amazon. You can also see them on your Seller Central account (Performance > Account Health > Product Policy Compliance > Received Intellectual Property).

IP complaints from buyers/brands

Sometimes, you may receive IP claims directly from Amazon customers or brands. In such instances, you don’t have to respond. If a brand owner wants to restrict their brand, they need to open a case directly with Amazon.

You can mark those messages “No Response Needed.” If you suspect it comes from your competition, report it to Amazon.

How to Remove IP Complaint from Your Amazon Account?

If you received an Amazon IP infringement notice from Amazon, you need to respond immediately.

What to do if you’ve got an IP complaint from Amazon step by step

Step 1. Send an email to the brand owner, citing the complaint, and apologize for the mistake. 

Step 2. Attach your invoices for the product purchase.

Step 3. Request the brand to retract the claim. 

Step 4. Respond to Amazon. Tell them you’ve contacted the right owner.

Step 5. Include proof of purchase receipts. 

Step 6. Provide a plan of action for IP complaint removal.

Step 7. Request Amazon to retract the claim. 

Note 1. Amazon reserves 180 days for retracting the complaint from your account.

Note 2. Chances are that the brand will ignore your email. You may send a follow-up email to tell Amazon further that you’ve reached out to the rights owner twice and received no reply.

Will Amazon Suspend My Account if I Get an IP Claim?

No. Not with the first IP complaint. However, if you don’t respond to it and get a second one, chances are that it happens. Reply to Amazon’s message and show them that you take it seriously.

How to Avoid IP Complaints?

It’s much better to escape IP claims than to deal with them proactively. The best way to do it is to avoid reselling brands and products reported to have IP complaints and other account health problems on Amazon.

Easier said than done. How to know that a brand is going to file an IP complaint? Any brand can do it.

How to know if an ASIN or brand had IP claims?

Here’s when seller tools come into play. If a brand has already registered an IP claim for a specific ASIN on Amazon, Seller Assistant App will know it.

Seller Assistant App collects information from the Amazon seller database, anonymizes it, and shows the products and brands that created account health problems. Account health issues are collected automatically daily. If a product has a problem, Seller Assistant App’s IP Alerts feature will show you a red triangle icon and the case details.

What performance and account health problems does the Seller Assistant App show?

• IP violations;
• IP complaints;
• product authenticity customer complaints;
• product condition customer complaints;
• food and product safety issues;
• listing policy violations;
• restricted product policy violations;
• customer product reviews policy violations;
• other policy violations.

If you see a product marked with a red triangle icon in Seller Assistant App’s Top Navigation Panel, be aware that some Amazon sellers got in trouble with it.

Free Seller Assistant App‘s IP Warning extension

Also, Seller Assistant App‘s IP Warning extension gives specific information on IP claims. It’s free. It’s a helpful extension for sellers, but with it, you don’t get the complete picture of the product’s account health problems. Seller Assistant App detects a broader spectrum of other issues an ASIN may have.

Final Thoughts 

If you received a notice from Amazon that you’ve violated intellectual property rights, you need to reply to Amazon and fix the problem.

On the other hand, it’s better to keep away from brands that may cause you problems. Seller Assistant app will tell you about such products and brands.

This product research plugin combines an FBM&FBA profit calculator and many other features for sellers. You’ll access Advanced IP Alerts, Quick View, Stock Checker, and Restrictions Checker in one tool.

Try Seller Assistant Аpp now. Register for our 14-day trial. Grow your Amazon business with confidence.