What Print on Demand Sellers NEED TO KNOW! Trademark & Copyright Amazon Merch Guide (With Examples)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.ค. 2024
- ⭐My Comprehensive Trademark Course: bit.ly/TrademarkCoursePA
This video is an in-depth Copyright and Trademark Guide for Merch by Amazon and Print on Demand Sellers who are looking to avoid Trademark Infringement. This can be a very confusing and complicated topic to understand especially for beginners. I hope this video helps you avoid Rejections and keep your accounts safe!
TOOLS & RESOURCES MENTIONED:
Google Copyright Info Page bit.ly/3A9dUZr
Merch by Amazon Trademark Protection bit.ly/3wpfeEa
Productor for Merch by Amazon bit.ly/3IrqvYj
TMhunt tmhunt.com
USA Trademark Registry www.uspto.gov/trademarks
UK Trademark Registry trademarks.ipo.gov.uk/ipo-tmtext
German Trademark Registry register.dpma.de/DPMAregister...
EU Trademark Registry euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/
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⚠️VIDEOS YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS⚠️
Trademark & Copyright Guide • What Print on Demand S...
101 Profitable Niches • 101 EVERGREEN Niches t...
Get out of Tier 10 Faster • Stuck in Tier 10 on Me...
No Sales? Do This! • Waking Up to 0 New PRI...
CHAPTERS:
00:00 Intro
00:51 Copyright Explained
02:14 How to avoid Copyright Infringement
03:10 Trademarks Explained
03:59 Types of Trademarks
05:46 Trademark Classes Explained
06:25 How to avoid Trademark Infringement
06:52 Trademark Tool #1 Tutorial
08:29 Trademark Tool #2 Tutorial
11:53 Settings to configure
12:32 How to check for Trademarks UK
14:21 Enable this hidden Setting
15:02 Important Things to note
16:42 Bonus Tip
17:34 Outro
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About my Channel: I am Philip and I am here to help you on your Print on Demand journey, share share my Tips, Tools and Tactics to save you time and increase your sales.
I am a Graphic Designer who has been selling Print on Demand and Digital Downloads online since 2018. I am Tier 20.000 on Merch by Amazon and have shops on many other Platforms including Redbubble, Teepublic, Zazzle, Spreadshirt, Etsy Teespring, Kindle Direct Publishing and more. -
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It is absolutely ridiculous that people can trademark a word, such as "July!!" That just isn't right. There should be some words that are not allowed to be trademarked, July being one of them. It blows my mind that people are so greedy and so ignorant, that they trade mark one some word, that is used so often. "World Greatest Dad" or "Just a Girl," are other examples, of something that is ridiculous.
I know it's awful. I don't use "son" in my listings because it's trademarked, got to go with grandson
Hey @Philip Anders, what do you do, if someone is going to register a trademark after you already uploaded your shirt? I guess the productor will inform you. But what happens, if the word „tractor“ will also get registered for mens Tshirt. Will productor also see that?🤔
Thanks a lot 🙏🏻
The trademarks will be the death of me lol. Everything is trademarked. It is insane. Most basic words are trademarked. How do they even allow super basic words to be trademarked? Blows my mind. Even in your example "mother" is trademarked in the UK for clothing. Does that mean we can't make mother's day designs for the UK since writing "mother" will cause it to be rejected? Also, we can't write "mother" in the tags even though that would be a very basic word people would be searching for on Amazon when looking for a mother's day shirt?
The best video about trademark and copyright I've ever seen. Thanks a lot!
Really?? I am glad to hear that thank you :)
Thanks a lot for this and all your other videos Philip! Really helpful! This whole trademark thing is ridiculous in so many ways....Why should someone be able to hold the rights on a single word like mother, retro or war for no one else to use on a class25 product...neither as a single word or phrase in a specific context on the design, nor in the description or tagwords? That really shocked me I have to admit...
Very informative. Thank you for these tools!
So you can't use the word "mother" in the UK?
Does that mean if I make a T-Shirt that says "I love my mother", that would be a violation???
Thank you for the tip about the trademark notification for existing designs. Brilliant!
It's a lifesaver!
Great video thank you!!!!
This great video! You explain every thing I was searching for
Thanks alot
Glad to hear that! You're welcome!
Very helpful content about trademark and tools, thanks for sharing!
No problem :)
You burn it man , the most clear and sell explained videos I've ever seen in my life. The first i understand that there are words that could copyrighted and trademarked ,and words could copyrighted and trademarked in some categories and others not 🚫. Thanks man.
You're welcome! Glad you found it helpful :)
This video has been a big help. Thanks :)
Glad it helped! Thanks for watching :)
pretty good tutorial! learn a ton! thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks! Really useful - totally new to POD and know nothing about copyright, but Im learning! I had no idea that you couldn't use the most generic words - like mother - in descriptions even if they're not on the actual product, so good advice
You are welcome, glad the video was helpful! I would definitely say that in my opinion, very generic words in descriptions shouldn't be a problem on most marketplaces, but on amazon merch it's definitely a risk.
Wow this is great info!
Glad you think so! Hope it helps🙂
Thanks a lot for your valuable contents
you're welcome!
Well explained
Thank you very much, Mate
you're welcome!
Hi Philip!) Thank you for such a useful channel, you helped a lot! I just have a question: What if I posted a design with a slogan that wasn't trademarked, and then someone took that slogan and registered it? Do I have to remove my products with this slogan from sale in this case? Or do I need to trademark my slogans and designs myself before someone else does it? Thank you!
Quick Question - I created some floral phone cases. I’m new at this for sure. I was looking at the USPTO site in regards to trademark. It has IPhone listed and one of their products is phone covers. So, can I use Ipone with number after it in my tags. For example IPhone 12, 13, 14, etc. Thanks!
Hello philip ladi note at minute 8:07 of the video you cannot sell t-shirts because they are registered as a trademark,
But you said you can sell it on t-shirts
prolly a mistake
Hi!!✌🏻the extension can also be done on a tablet? I'm at level 10 and I really need it…Thanks for the video
Thanks for the video. This was really helpful. I'm still a bit confused though. Say I want to do a wall art design with the word Meow added. I see Meow is trademarked for clothing. What category does digital wall prints fall under? Can I use the word Meow for digital downloads (not svg files) or should you just stay clear in general? Also that word then can't be used in the tags, correct?
Now, Amazon is deleting old designs with phrases that aren't trademarked. Yesterday, I asked them and they said the phrase was from an 80's movie. Today, the same happened, so I googled the phrase and it was from an old webcomic but not trademarked either.
Great vid. Thanks. I'm new to this, still in Tier 10. I've already had a couple of rejections due to trademarks, can you tell me do Amazon keep track of the number of rejections I get and then suddenly cancel my account?
Really great video, thank you! I just subscribed after watching several of your videos, in my attempt to further educate myself before starting my own POD Etsy shop. However, it would seem I've chosen the wrong business to generate passive income, altogether. And perhaps I should instead put all my efforts into trademarking the words "white, black, cat, dog, girl, boy, and t-shirt", and then call it a day! lol!! But that's not on you, your YT content is TOP-NOTCH, it's the absolute absurdity of trademarks being issued for single words in the English language. If a word exists in the dictionary, nobody should have the right to trademark it. Brand names, fine, slogans, sure... but the word "mother"? That's INSANE!
How to find UK trends on amazon tees
Oh my!!! I have a headache after watching this all with the Trademarks. I got really confused. In order to sell simple stuff on Print-On-Demand platforms you need to do all these things?? 😱 that's too frustrating. What "tier 10, or general The word "Tier" you are using often means"? But Thank you for sharing these Very useful information!
Hi Philip,
I'd like to ask you a question. Can you please help me?
I don't fully understand the trademark philosophy. For example, Live Your Best Life... Which option is suitable for sellers:
A - Live Your Great Life (Is there any problem with this change)
B - Your Best Life... Live... (Is there any problem with this change)
I mean, if I make more or less changes anywhere in this quote, can I use it in this final form?
Thank you so much.
What if you turn a trademarked phrase into a pun? For example...instead of "live your best life" you put "live your beast life". Does that count as trademark infringement?
Thank you for this, this is really helpful! I really like your content. My question is, is this already enough to check for trademarks or are there other things we need to consider doing? And it seems like almost all words were already trademarked, is it even possible to find ones that are not.
Hey I'm glad you found the video helpful! I don't do any other things on top of this to check for trademarks. And not almost all words are trademarked for tshirts. It's a lot yes, but there's still an abundance of words which you can use
@@PhilipAnders hello, my english is not good enough . I have a few questions, now we will write on the t-shirt, how do I know if someone else is using it? . Let's say no one used it, so how do I prevent others from using it?
@@PhilipAnders Is there a site that sells words or pictures, that is, designs? After I buy it, it will be mine, I don't need to do anything else, I will put it on my t-shirt.
How can you Trademark the phrase "4th of July"????? That don't make sense.
Wow, Red Bubble is failing in so many ways. I see so many designs that several other people have copied, exactly!! Then, you have the tag spammers, over there....it is disgusting. I swear RB got too big for it's britches, so to speak, and they just don't care anymore. I hope they don't destroy TeePublic, since I've heard RB owns that, too.
Hi Phillip, thanks for the videos. Can we use the pending trademark?
if it's not registered yet you are allowed to use it. But it could become registered at any point which is a downside
@@PhilipAnders Thank you
What about pending TM trademark ™️ we're safe or not
Thanks for the videos! I’m following along with excitement. I tried to download the first app - but it wants payment - has this one changed since your video?
Are you talking about "Merch by Amazon Trademark Protection"?
@@PhilipAnders Yes, that's the one. Tried to install in chrome and it requires a log in, which requires registration, and then bank info (for a monthly or yearly fee). Perhaps they've changed it?
@@jonrrobinson You should be able to use it on amazon product pages without a subscription. At least that's what I read somewhere when I made the video. I can't really test it unfortunately as I have a subscription
@@jonrrobinson "While this will work on any front facing Amazon product page, the real magic happens if you have a Merch Informer account. When you have a MI account, you can log in to the plugin and do your trademark checks directly on your Merch Dashboard. This allows you to check all titles, bullets and descriptions before you upload them ensuring you do not infringe on a trademark." - that's what the browser addon page says, still indicating it should work for free on amazon pages, without logging in
Is "Mother" trademark ™️ for uk!?
Hey Phil, How much do you make per month on average?
Yesterday my design rejected even i checked the tmhunt and uspto and copyrights. The design was like willie hanck i cant remember exactly
Your design can be rejected for other reasons besides trademarks. It is explained in the mba content policy
today i've uploaded two new designs and they have both been rejected for trademark, sadly i came up to this video just now..how much do i risk to be banned in your opinion right now? it's just the first time it happens to me? i mean how much tollerance do they have? any idea? have you ever been warned?
Thanks again for sharing valuable information. Question regarding the brand name. Thanks for your help. Question: if I have 10 t-shirts, do I have to use different brand names based on the title? Also, I sell t-shirts to a specific niche, and for the brand name, I use the same phrase. Do I have to register the phrase? I am still in tier 10. Thanks for your help.
he brand name can be the same for all the t-shirts in the same niche. And you don't have to register the phrase
@@PhilipAnders Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thanks again for a quick response. Blessings.
Hi Philip, Appreciate your kind response.
How do you come up with new ideas.
Is it safe to use
1. change a bit of a trademark phrase I'D RATHER BE with my cat to I'D RATHER BE with my horse
B. phrase that are application not registered
1. just a girl who loves ... ...
2. I LIKE DOGS
are those would be safe.
Hello! I come up with new ideas while doing research and cross niching different topics. If a while sentence is trademarked you can change parts of it and be fine. As long as it's changed quite significantly. Like the trademark "Birds aren't real" you can't change that to "Birds are not real" You would have to say "Horses are not real" for example.
phrases which are in application but not registered yet are generally safe until they go live. There is never a guarantee with amazon but in theory you can use those trademarks
Thanks for this video.
Do you know Philip if a word is trademarked (for example TOUCAN or OWL) is it ok to make a tshirt design of the actual bird if you don’t put the word toucan into description item name or tags?
And another quick question… if you’re uploading to redbubble teepublic merch by amazon do you always check all countries copyright and trademark entries. Because the customer can be buying it from they’re country regardless of where the word/design is safe to use?
Hope that makes sense.
yes you can use the bird without using the name in that case. And no I don't check every country for redbubble etc. On amazon I check the US & EU marketplaces with productor
@@PhilipAnders ok great thanks I appreciate your reply
Impossible to work like this i think there is no problem to use trademarked single word in i hole sentence
Bro I have questions for Design Types of Trademark.
what if a words or phrase is trademarked For class 25 and we can use that words or phrases with different designs, it's safe.
yes if the design is different then it's safe
@@PhilipAnders thanks Bro
Hello Philip,
Thanks for this helpful video! The whole trademark thing is very intimidating, because people register common words like "Mother".
I have many questions, and I'd really appreciate it if you help me find an answers.
Am I allowed to put a word like "Mother" in a phrase? As in "Parkour Mother"?
Another question; what if each word of the phrase is trademarked on its own, but not trademarked as a whole phrase, as in the above example?
In a situation like that, how am I going to describe my t-shirt; what are the keywords am I going to use in the title and bullets?
If I'm not allowed to use these keywords, is my product going to show up in search?
Thank you again for your effort, and your valuable content.
You are right the whole trademark topic is very intimidating. I am not a Trademark expert so I can't really give you absolute answers to your questions. I personally try and stay away from as many "text" trademarks as possible, even if they are single words. For some extremely generic words like "Mother" I will occasionally make an exception. The main issue is Amazon being unpredictable with enforcing these trademarks. On most other marketplaces I wouldn't worry too much if you use a generic single word trademark like "mother"
Hi Philip, I am new to the POD industry. Thank you for uploading this video. It was very helpful for me as a beginner.
Can you answer the following question for me?
If a keyword is trademarked, for example "Parkour", can I use the word "Parkour" on the design/on the t-shirt itself if it is not mentioned in the listing?
That's not allowed if the word is trademarked for the use on t-shirts ;)
@@PhilipAnders Thank you very much :)
I never get trademark, (except once with a foreign marketplace) But I get Content policy. WHICH I HATE. Because the rules are so VAGUE that you most times you dont know what you did wrong or the reviewers( with their auto computer generated responses) NEVER tell you what word was flagged SO YOU WILL NEVER KNOW. I've gotten rejects reversed because of this. I get mad because people are trademarking the more basic phrases AFTER many of our designs were up LONG before the trademark. people are doing it on purpose. GIRL DAD is now trademarked, but its only a few months old. My shirt (uploaded BEFORE the trademark) is still live, so we will see.
Even if your shirt was uploaded before the trademark went live, you are technically not allowed to sell it anymore. If you still want to sell it , I'd say stick to teepublic/redbubble etc where it's not as risky
but I know it's super annoying that we never know why exactly something gets rejected. It's like getting an F in school but none of the mistakes are highlighted. Very useless for learning and improving for the future
Hey phillip, you seem to sell in multiple stores and other business interests. I'd be interested in how you handle accounting (and tax). I know tax is not something that's easily applied between countries (I'm in Europe) but I'd bet you still have something to offer, like what tools or templates you use
I don't trust myself to handle tax properly so I pay an accounting firm that specialises in ecommerce :) I'd love to give you advice, but I think it's always best to get an accountant to help with your specific situation
Hello, can you please share information about Etsy trademark and Copyright
these trademarks apply to etsy as well ;)
does wall art like posters displate come under class 25?
no that's a separate class, not sure which one though
HELPPPP! If you don't mind answering- how do you go about something like using the word "Astronaut" in the description box. If you've drawn an actual Astronaut and that's the graphic but the word is trademarked- how do you describe an Astronaut for search without using the word Astronaut 🥴 no one would ever find your shirt. Newbie over here- that part is so confusing because it's a literal profession and describes a type of job. Thanks for your videos! I like the way you break things down.
that's a hard one and I understand where you are coming from. But unfortunately if that word is trademark it could lead to rejections. I would then use other space related words that are safe. On other marketplaces besides MBA just use the word Astronaut, nobody would ever care ;)
@@PhilipAnders thanks for the quick response ❤️🌟 I appreciate you! And wild - I used all the other keywords so maybe one day it'll appear with astronaut shirts 🤣 - such an interesting situation.
Hallo Philip! One of the best tutorials ever. Buuut... I am still confused about a specific thing. Let's make this example: I checked the word COOKIES and it's trademarked. This means I cannot use this word in tags and descriptions, but not even as a part of a sentence on the tshirt itself? As "I am still waiting for the cookies I accepted"? Reading some comments it seems I CAN'T... but I checked cookies tshirts on Amazon and there are many with several words including COOKIES both on the shirt and the tags/description. What happened there? Probably it was not rejected as it should have been just for a mistake?
thank you so much, I hope this is not a stupid question
It's not a stupid question. Many people are confused about this. My understanding is that you're not allowed to use trademarked words in sentences
what is the font name on the thumbnail
Hi! It's called Woodblock, this is where I got it bit.ly/3akcGjF
does that mean I sell t-shirts in the UK, I only have to pay attention to the trademark in the UK, not the US?
Yes, If you only sell them in the UK, you only have to adhere to the trademarks in the UK
Halo Philip. Is there such feature of automatic royalty split for 3rd party license acquirement, so that each shirt sold, the royalty will automatically split 50/50 to me and the copyright owner?
For example, I would like to use Bart character from the Simpson with little bit of my own tweak. So I made aggreement to the Simpson copyright owner they will get 50% of royalty for each shirt sold. They approved. But instead of me transferring money manually, can Amazon or any other POD services split that royalty and automatically send the money to the simpson copyright owner account automatically without me having to do anything?
You would have to contact each POD marketplace seperately to find out if and how they do it. Not sure how this works I've never done it
@@PhilipAnders I see. Tnkiu for your reply 🙏
I took a design from Creative Fabrica, "Removed
Due to a Content Policy violation ", changed the font and phrase, seriously trying to move forward on Amazon merch is hard i cant and dont think I will ever fully understand their policies.... best selling design of the previous month was removed, and I use producter, recommended by your good self ;-) nothing flagged nothing copyrighted or trademarked... All I can think is somebody somewhere may have gotten offended , by the design faith-based rainbow design, can this happen??, If so what with a world full of people easily offended how can anybody succeed on Merch by Amazon???
This tradermark is ridiculously and very frustrating, if upload text design to website like Zazzle and that words later been tradermark i won't know is tradermark 😢
Can i upload anime printing ond merch by amazon
not if it's linked to anime tv shows
I have a question for you. If the trademark is pending, I can use it?
yes you can. If it becomes registered then you would have to remove the listings. But they don't always go through
@@PhilipAnders
Thank you Philip! I have requested a review from Printful since they put "on hold" all my sales with that particular image even though it is pending patent.😓
Thanks for video but here I have got some doubt,
as about text type trademark it can't be used as i am happy is trademark as text type I have to avoid it,
Then about design it is more like the design is trademark more powerful version of copyright but what about making variation about it, changing that design and if that design trademark contains word making it in different font?
And finally about typeset, i should be able to used it unless and until I am making design that might represent them, can you please help me to clarify it.
if " i am happy" is trademarked as TEXT then you can't use it.
If you don't copy the DESIGN trademarks but make your own version of it you should be fine.
TYPESET: the word "cat" is trademarked as typeset as it refers to the brand name of a construction vehicle company called caterpillar. If you use the word cat for cat designs (the animal) and not for construction vehicles, you should be fine
@@PhilipAnders Text trademark shouldn't be used, design trademark is okay as long as I don't make the same design but can make different variation. As for typeset I can't make designs that may show or represent the brand or owner of the trademark. Thanks man
@@nareshbc2951 You got it👍
@@PhilipAnders Thanks man
What about Bible verses? Tons of Etsy shops are even known for selling Bible verse t-shirts. Is it okay for anyone to use them on t-shirts?
I doubt those are protected
So u don't have mother's shirts in the UK 👀
you just can't use the keyword in your listing or design. There is still shirts aimed at mothers of course
The problem it's not copyright, the problem it's tred mark 😭, it's a nightmare
It baffles me how someone can trademark the word "mother"...