Hi @Seller_t9kvdr2yixQej, thanks for chiming in here, sincerely appreciate your high level help.
I have started another discussion on the Forum for my exact issue, and started a new appeal, that, frustratingly, at 2:17 am this morning, was rejected AGAIN for the exact same vague reason "cannot verify business identity." Can you take a look, as this is driving us insane.
This decision was made since we could not verify the registered business name and business identifier (for example: tax ID number or business ID number) provided by you at the time of submitting the appeal form.
The Case ID is: CaseID: 17451349831
We keep getting the same vague rejection that they cannot verify business identity, and then the same vague "make sure everything matches language.. @Seller_t9kvdr2yixQej, we then have literally uploaded the ORIGINAL SS-4 showing the EIN given by the IRS, the USPTO receipt, and the Articles of Incorporaiton of the LLC with the state. ALL THREE DOCUMENTS show the LLC name PERFECTLY MATCHING. There is absolutely no discrepancy. In looking at your answer / suggestion below, we have done exactly what you are suggesting.
Next, I believe you or another poster in this thread mentions there could be issue because of how Amazon strangely handles single member LLC's, and in some places requires the identity be verified by a person (for instance, the Tax Interview in the main menu of seller central required the personal information of the owner and SSN to pass the tax interview.). Could this be what is causing the problem there? If so, then their response is even more vague and doesn't describe the problem, because you (and the rejection issue) say they are ONLY looking at the Brand, LLC, USPTO names, and they match.
You seem to indicate an actual person or 'team' will review the docs provided, but in our case it doesn't seem anyone with any high level thinking is reviewing anything nor providing any guidance (except you here on the forums), because if they would actually review the documentation that you tell us to provide, they would see that everything matches or at least have the courtesy to reply with what the issue is other than a vague rejection that says things that match don't match. That isn't helpful.
Even if they are now looking at the overall account (which is still registered to the LLC) and the Tax Interview (which has the account owner), they can still tie everything together to the owner as that name is also on EIN and LLC docs, so they can easily see that EVERYTHING matches and can be tied together... account owner -> LLC -> EIN -> Articles of Incorporation -> USPTO receipt.
You can even go on line publicly, search the trademark, and it clearly comes up showing our LLC name which is on the docs we submitted.
Please help make it make sense. We spent a lot of $ and time on this to be stuck in a robotic loop of rejections that don't make sense and that can't be fixed without being told exactly what is wrong.
THANK YOU.
Your answer guidance below - we have done all of these things:
What I usually tell Sellers when this question comes up in the Forums is to ensure what they provide in the application/appeal as the owner of the Trademark matches exactly with the "Current Owner(s) Information," tab on the USPTO website. In the instances where a business owns the TM, it is helpful providing the business registration so that the appeals team can connect the TM to the Business and to the individual they are communicating with.
At the bottom of the rejection, it says to do this:
When submitting an appeal, please ensure that: -- The registered business name and business identifier (for example: tax ID number or business ID number) provided by you is accurate.--The data provided by you is accurate based on the business registration documents provided by the government agency or department responsible for business registrations.-- If the name of the business owning the trademark is incorrect or does not reflect the information on the USPTO website, your application may be negatively impacted.
Which we have 100% done and even uploaded the documents, our attorney has looked at them and they all match.
Greatly appreciate your guidance and escalation to someone other than a robot to review the case. Thank you!