We understand Brand Registry uses specific terms that may be unfamiliar, so we're here to help keep you all up to speed on Brand Registry's most commonly used terms.

But first: What is Amazon Brand Registry?

Brand Registry is Amazon’s authoritative service for information about every brand in the world. Amazon Brand Registry is global and contains: (A) brand names, (B) brand profile data (e.g., trademarks, logos), and (C) accounts that have roles (e.g., Rights Owner, Brand Representative) for that brand.

Now, let’s breakdown those Brand Registry frequently used terms:

Brand : A brand is a name that represents a product or set of products. Products for the same brand share a common name, logo, or other identifying mark that appears on the product or its packaging and distinguishes those products from similar products that do not belong to that brand. Enrolled brands are stored in Amazon Brand Registry with a unique Brand ID.

Intellectual property (IP): Refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works, designs, symbols, names and images used in commerce.

Intellectual property law deals with many things, but at its most basic level, is a legal construct that can protect productions of the human mind. Think of IP as creative work that people do: either by inventing a product or solution to a problem, creating art, or by developing a design that defines a brand.

Patent: Patents generally cover an invention of something. A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention that can be a product or a process that provides a new way of doing something, or offers a new technological solution to a problem. In the U.S., there are two types: Utility Patents and Design Patents.

• A Utility Patent protects how something works or is built. To secure a utility patent, you need to be able to describe the invention in detail to the degree that another industry expert can take the specifications and build your invention. In addition, your invention must be novel, useful, and not just an obvious improvement to someone else’s invention.

• A Design Patent protects how something looks. To obtain one, your product’s design needs to be new, original, distinctive, and ornamental. Often times, when you apply for an industrial design patent, you may only be able to claim a portion of that product as being protectable. In that case, you’ll need to make it clear which components you’re claiming both in the narrative and in the design drawings.

Trademark: A trademark is a word, symbol, or design, like a logo or stylized brand name, that a company uses to identify its goods and services that distinguish them from competitors. Trademarks are how consumers recognize the products and services they encounter everyday. In particular, they tell them who is standing behind a product and service, and can give clues into the the source of production, and ultimately, the quality of the product.

Copyright: A copyright protects original artistic works of authorship. It’s what most people think about when they talk about creative works. Things like music, books, movies, paintings, photographs, and even video games, can be copyright protected. Generally, copyright laws are meant to incentivize the creation of original works for the benefit of the public. To receive copyright protection, a work must be created by an author and must have some amount of creativity within it. If someone is the creator of an original work, then they typically can own the copyright in that work. For example, a brand that took the photos of the products in a product listing owns the copyright of the images. If another seller were to copy those images to sell their product on another product detail page, or in another store, that seller could be violating the rights of the creators of the copyrighted images.

Please let us know in the comments if you have other Brand Registry terms you’d like us to clarify!