Anthony Famularo's guest appearances

Anthony Famularo

British Amazon Seller

Amazing FBA Amazon and ECommerce Podcast, for Amazon Private Label Sellers, Shopify, Magento or Woocommerce business owners, and other e-commerce sellers and digital entrepreneurs.

Jeremy Biron

Shane Stinemetz

Manuel Becver

Nadine Eich

Steve Chou

Coran Woodmass

Brad Moss

Will Tjernlund

Antoni Watts

Eugene Terk

Greg Mercer

Manuel Becvar

Anthony Lee

David Aggiss

Ashlin Hadden

OwlTail

Today on the podcast we have Anthony Famularo from Rosenbaum Famularo Lawyers, the Amazon Seller Lawyers. We are going to be discussing trademarks for Amazon.A lot of people have fear around legal issues because they are important topics. Most of us either sit in worry or duck our heads into the sand because we don’t know what to do. To help with this in one area where many Amazon sellers have fear, Anthony is here today to talk about patents and trademarks for Amazon. Intellectual Property: Trademarks, Copyright, and PatentsAnthony finds people generally understand copyright and to a certain extent, trademarks. However, the most common mistake he sees is people confusing trademarks with patents. People think that if they register their own trademark and private label their product that they are protected from patent law, but that’s not true. Trademarks are used to identify the source or quality of the goods and are often about the branding.A patent is a government-granted right. It’s the right to exclude other people from advertising, offering for sale or importing your invention without your approval. There are utility patents and design patents. The utility patent covers what you would think of as an invention or the useful part of an invention. A design patent covers the appearance or ornamental, non-functional aspect of an invention. To get the most protection people will usually try to register both at the same time. For copyright, you can’t copyright the idea. But if you put it into a tangible medium—whether you write it or record it—you can. Once it’s in that tangible medium you can protect it by registering a copyright. With a patent, you can protect the actual use of it, and it can be the idea. If properly drafted it protects your idea for that invention or product. An Example of Utility vs. Design PatentLet’s say you are looking at a phone case that has a light on it to light up your pictures and make your selfies better. The use of the light on the phone case would be protected by a utility patent. Then the design patent could be used to protect the appearance of it. One product can get protection from utility patent and design patent. Getting a design patent is much simpler in that it usually just has one claim. Usually is just illustrations of the product. It is much faster and easier to get protection for your products through a design patent. The utility patent is much more complex, much harder to define. It’s harder to find it there’s already a patent that exists and then if there isn’t. It’s harder to construct your own application for it. Clearance SearchesAnthony recommends looking into this for new private label products before spending money on manufacturing. The first step is to do a clearance search. Start with your own research via the United States Patent and Trademark Office at uspto.gov where you can search for patents and trademarks. That is the starting point in terms of doing your own research for your trademarks for Amazon. Your own research will help you to identify whether or not you should have a cursory or preliminary search done. If you do, and that preliminary search is successful then you can make a business decision as to whether or not to make sure before you go any further. That’s when you do a more extensive search. At that point, Anthony says you have to hire someone to make sure because you need to find out early whether or not it’s worth it to go further with your private label product. Anthony advises even if you can’t afford a comprehensive search, have at least a preliminary search done. He recommends spending a little bit, under $1000. It’s worth that investment and everyone should do that at least. You have to weigh up for yourself the risk vs reward. People want to put in $3000 and get out $10,000, but the reality is you could put in $3000 and end up with $0 if you go really wrong.

Today on the podcast we have Anthony Famularo from Rosenbaum Famularo Lawyers, the Amazon Seller Lawyers. We are going to be discussing trademarks for Amazon. A lot of people have fear around legal issues because they are important topics. Most of us either sit in worry or duck our heads into the sand because we don’t know what to do. To help with this in one area where many Amazon sellers have fear, Anthony is here today to talk about patents and trademarks for Amazon. Intellectual Property: Trademarks, Copyright, and Patents Anthony finds people generally understand copyright and to a certain extent, trademarks. However, the most common mistake he sees is people confusing trademarks with patents. People think that if they register their own trademark and private label their product that they are protected from patent law, but that’s not true. Trademarks are used to identify the source or quality of the goods and are often about the branding. A patent is a government-granted right. It’s the right to exclude other people from advertising, offering for sale or importing your invention without your approval. There are utility patents and design patents. The utility patent covers what you would think of as an invention or the useful part of an invention. A design patent covers the appearance or ornamental, non-functional aspect of an invention. To get the most protection people will usually try to register both at the same time. For copyright, you can’t copyright the idea. But if you put it into a tangible medium—whether you write it or record it—you can. Once it’s in that tangible medium you can protect it by registering a copyright. With a patent, you can protect the actual use of it, and it can be the idea. If properly drafted it protects your idea for that invention or product. An Example of Utility vs. Design Patent Let’s say you are looking at a phone case that has a light on it to light up your pictures and make your selfies better. The use of the light on the phone case would be protected by a utility patent. Then the design patent could be used to protect the appearance of it. One product can get protection from utility patent and design patent. Getting a design patent is much simpler in that it usually just has one claim. Usually is just illustrations of the product. It is much faster and easier to get protection for your products through a design patent. The utility patent is much more complex, much harder to define. It’s harder to find it there’s already a patent that exists and then if there isn’t. It’s harder to construct your own application for it. Clearance Searches Anthony recommends looking into this for new private label products before spending money on manufacturing. The first step is to do a clearance search. Start with your own research via the United States Patent and Trademark Office at <a href="http://uspto.gov" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">uspto.gov</a> where you can search for patents and trademarks. That is the starting point in terms of doing your own research for your trademarks for Amazon. Your own research will help you to identify whether or not you should have a cursory or preliminary search done. If you do, and that preliminary search is successful then you can make a business decision as to whether or not to make sure before you go any further. That’s when you do a more extensive search. At that point, Anthony says you have to hire someone to make sure because you need to find out early whether or not it’s worth it to go further with your private label product. Anthony advises even if you can’t afford a comprehensive search, have at least a preliminary search done. He recommends spending a little bit, under $1000. It’s worth that investment and everyone should do that at least. You have to weigh up for yourself the risk vs reward. People want to put in $3000 and get out $10,000, but the reality is you could put in $3000 and end up with $0 if you go really wrong.

Trademarks for Amazon Private Label Sellers (Anthony Famularo 2 of 2)

Once again we have a lawyer on the show today, Anthony Famularo from Rosenbaum Famularo, The Amazon Lawyers. Today we’re going to talk about patents for Amazon and trademarks.We’re going to start with definitions. People tend to get confused with these words, myself included, so I thought it would be good to define them first.Intellectual PropertyThe biggest misconception, when it comes to IP, is patents. People can generally understand copyright and trademarks, but don’t have a good grasp of IP. They have a hard time trying to interpret patent laws by themselves.PatentsPatents are a government protection that gives you exclusivity for your inventions. To get a patent, your invention must be new, useful, not obvious. For sellers, there are two types of patents for Amazon you need to worry about. Design patents, and utility patents. A utility patent covers what you think of as an invention. The useful part of an invention. A design patent covers the appearance or the non-functional aspects of an invention. For the best protection, you will want to register for both.There are many misconceptions about patents. One is that people will confuse trademarks with patents. They think that because they private labeled their product that it protects them from other people’s patents for Amazon. Patents are government issued and protects you from having your products used by others. Just because you trademark and private label your product, doesn’t protect you from someone taking your idea.Example Patents for AmazonAn example of a utility patent would be a phone case with a light on it. A utility patent would protect the case itself. It would make it illegal for someone to make a phone case with a light on it. A design patent would protect the look of it.Private SellersOne fear many new sellers have is violating a patent. There is a fear that you might inadvertently infringe on another’s patent when you source from China. Before you spend a lot of money on product development, you want to perform a clearance search. You can search on your own and find out that way. A good resource would be https://www.uspto.gov/. Then you can have a law firm do a preliminary search. They will attempt to find any obvious products that would have a patent. If that doesn’t find any issues, you can then make the decision to conduct a more thorough check.Getting StartedIt might be adequate to use https://www.uspto.gov/ if you’re coming out with a private label product. If you have the money, it is best to have a comprehensive search done. However, many sellers that are just starting out may not have the resources for that. They should at least attempt to get a preliminary search. You should be able to get it for under $1000. It’s worth the money to avoid the risk.With trademarks, the https://www.uspto.gov/ would be a good resource. It will tell you if there are any current registrations, applications, or abandoned marks. If you are looking to trademark your brand, it’s a lot easier to look up the brand than it is to find these patents. The next step, if you found that there won’t be an issue, is to register your trademark. You will want to keep everything confidential to avoid it getting public and running the risk that someone beats you to it.Risks with Patent for AmazonThe biggest risk is the potential for damages that comes with not doing your homework. If you infringe on someone’s patent, they probably won’t care that you’re a new seller. If you do infringe on a patent, the first thing is that you will receive a cease and desist letter. Most of the time, if you stop selling the product, the other party will drop it. It’s not worth it to them to spend the money on litigation. It is a much different case if you ignore the letter. They can go after you for wilful infringement. They can also try to go for punitive damages beyond the money they lost. Hopefully, you won’t make the mistake of ignoring the letter.

Once again we have a lawyer on the show today, Anthony Famularo from Rosenbaum Famularo, The Amazon Lawyers. Today we’re going to talk about patents for Amazon and trademarks. We’re going to start with definitions. People tend to get confused with these words, myself included, so I thought it would be good to define them first. Intellectual Property The biggest misconception, when it comes to IP, is patents. People can generally understand copyright and trademarks, but don’t have a good grasp of IP. They have a hard time trying to interpret patent laws by themselves. Patents Patents are a government protection that gives you exclusivity for your inventions. To get a patent, your invention must be new, useful, not obvious. For sellers, there are two types of patents for Amazon you need to worry about. Design patents, and utility patents. A utility patent covers what you think of as an invention. The useful part of an invention. A design patent covers the appearance or the non-functional aspects of an invention. For the best protection, you will want to register for both. There are many misconceptions about patents. One is that people will confuse trademarks with patents. They think that because they private labeled their product that it protects them from other people’s patents for Amazon. Patents are government issued and protects you from having your products used by others. Just because you trademark and private label your product, doesn’t protect you from someone taking your idea. Example Patents for Amazon An example of a utility patent would be a phone case with a light on it. A utility patent would protect the case itself. It would make it illegal for someone to make a phone case with a light on it. A design patent would protect the look of it. Private Sellers One fear many new sellers have is violating a patent. There is a fear that you might inadvertently infringe on another’s patent when you source from China. Before you spend a lot of money on product development, you want to perform a clearance search. You can search on your own and find out that way. A good resource would be <a href="https://www.uspto.gov/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.uspto.gov/</a>. Then you can have a law firm do a preliminary search. They will attempt to find any obvious products that would have a patent. If that doesn’t find any issues, you can then make the decision to conduct a more thorough check. Getting Started It might be adequate to use <a href="https://www.uspto.gov/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.uspto.gov/</a> if you’re coming out with a private label product. If you have the money, it is best to have a comprehensive search done. However, many sellers that are just starting out may not have the resources for that. They should at least attempt to get a preliminary search. You should be able to get it for under $1000. It’s worth the money to avoid the risk. With trademarks, the <a href="https://www.uspto.gov/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.uspto.gov/</a> would be a good resource. It will tell you if there are any current registrations, applications, or abandoned marks. If you are looking to trademark your brand, it’s a lot easier to look up the brand than it is to find these patents. The next step, if you found that there won’t be an issue, is to register your trademark. You will want to keep everything confidential to avoid it getting public and running the risk that someone beats you to it. Risks with Patent for Amazon The biggest risk is the potential for damages that comes with not doing your homework. If you infringe on someone’s patent, they probably won’t care that you’re a new seller. If you do infringe on a patent, the first thing is that you will receive a cease and desist letter. Most of the time, if you stop selling the product, the other party will drop it. It’s not worth it to them to spend the money on litigation. It is a much different case if you ignore the letter. They can go after you for wilful infringement. They can also try to go for punitive damages beyond the money they lost. Hopefully, you won’t make the mistake of ignoring the letter.

Patents for Amazon (Anthony Famularo 1 of 2)