On Amazon, T-Shirts With Slogans Expose Frivolous-Trademark Feud
- Rivalry in ‘Merch for Amazon’ fueled by trademark claims
- U.S. patent office has been flooded with spurious trademarks
An employee loads a truck with boxes to be shipped at the Amazon.com Inc. distribution center in Phoenix, Arizona.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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A growing number of sellers on Amazon.com Inc.’s platform are finding how painful it can be when Amazon’s absolute power over their small businesses meets a bureaucratic U.S. government system not built for the 21st century.
The issue involves trademarks filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a federal agency meant to ensure brands big and small can protect their intellectual property. The office processes hundreds of thousands of trademark applications a year, and experts at a hearing this month warned Congress that spurious trademarks have overwhelmed the system.