Global IP Matrix - Issue 5

TRADEMARKS
BRAND
PROTECTION
Amazon
Project Zero NOTES
By Lisa Lovell, Brand Enforcement UK Ltd
www.brandenforcement.co.uk
Amazon’s Project Zero was initially
rolled out in February 2019 and
covered the USA only. With a current
estimate of 3,000 brand participants,
the project was expanded to Europe
on 5th August 2019; and now includes
France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and
the UK.
“Project Zero builds on our longstanding
work and investments in this
area. It allows brands to work with us
to leverage our combined strengths
to move quickly and at scale to drive
counterfeits to zero,” said Dharmesh
Mehta, Amazon’s Vice President of
Consumer and Brand Protection.
What is Project Zero?
The initiative, aimed at eliminating the spread
of counterfeits on Amazon, enables brands
to remove counterfeit listings from the site
without the need to communicate with
Amazon, and thereby essentially “empowering
brands to help drive counterfeits to zero.”
“Our aim is that customers always
receive authentic goods when shopping
on Amazon,” Mehta.
Is Project Zero free?
It is free to enrol in Project Zero, get access to
the automated protections and use of the free
self-service counterfeit removal tool. However,
brands that choose to use the product
serialisation service incur a cost per unit, based
on volume.
Joining Project Zero
Currently, an invitation-only experience,
brands that are not yet enrolled should join the
waiting list. However, it is currently unclear as
to how long the wait might be.
Once enrolled in one country, brands are
automatically enrolled in other countries,
therefore avoiding the need to be added to the
waiting list or to enrol again.
Amazon Brand
Registry
Interested brands must have a governmentregistered
trademark and have enrolled their
brand(s) in Amazon Brand Registry. Brands
not yet enrolled in Brand Registry can get
started by visiting brandservices.amazon.
co.uk.
• Three-Pronged Approach
• Automated product scanning
• self-service counterfeit removal tool
• product serialisation scheme
A three-pronged approach, Project Zero
comprises of a suite of tools that combines
advanced technology and machine learning
with a brand’s knowledge.
When a brand joins Project Zero, Amazon
turns on automated protections for all, but it’s
then left up to the brand as to whether they
use the (self-service) removal or (paid for)
serialisation tools.
Automated Product
Scanning
“Our aim is to proactively prevent these
[counterfeits] before anyone ever sees
them,” said Mehta.
The first of these tools, automated
protections, continuously scans the online
stores, proactively detecting counterfeits by
referencing logos, trademarks, and other’ key
data’ about a brand and then removes any
suspected counterfeits.
Mehta continued: “Our approach … is
part of what happens in our store, so
we can scan and verify before it gets to
a customer and stop it if it’s inauthentic.
This is much better for the customer and
the brand. It also allows us to take the
appropriate actions if there’s a broader
issue.”
These machine learning algorithms scan more
than 5 billion product listings every day, and
for the US brands involved in the programme,
the automated protections have prevented
more than 65 million products from being
prevented and sold in stores. In other words,
for each and every suspected counterfeit
that a brand has taken down, more than 500
have been proactively stopped by Amazon’s
automated protections.
“Part of this is improved data sharing
between what customs and similar
organisations around the world have
versus what they’re willing to share with
us. This includes data that different
companies can share to identify
patterns and create better referrals for
law enforcement.” Mehta said.
“We’ve been testing these automated
protections with a number of brands,
and on average, our automated
protections proactively stop 100 times
more suspected counterfeit products as
compared to what we reactively remove
based on reports from brands,” Mehta
continued.
Self-Service Tool
Amazon has been testing its algorithms for a
while, but the self-service counterfeit removal
tool is new.
Traditionally, if a counterfeit does ‘get through’
the automated protections, the brand would
need to submit a notice to Amazon, which
would then lead to an investigation and finally
appropriate action, which can lead to delays.
“If brands are here to help us drive
counterfeits to zero and if they’re trying
to get counterfeits out of our stores, why
don’t we just give them the power to do
so?” Mehta.
34 www.gipmatrix.com