Amazon Merch rejecting my designs for which I have copyright certificates

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Anine Colaire asked Jul 19, '23

Amazon Merch rejecting my designs for which I have copyright certificates

This is new for me. I've been on Amazon Merch for years and just recently they have been rejecting several designs I post due to intellectual property violations. All my designs are drawn by me, they are years old, they are registered to me with the US Copyright Office, my company name is trademarked, and I am registered with Amazon Brand Registry. I sell these same images in my primary business (decals) via my Amazon Seller account. I know the title and font are not the issue, because several of designs I uploaded with the exact same phrase and font are live. All that is different is the image I am using in each (dog breeds). Some images they approve, others they do not. What's even more frustrating is that these same images they are rejecting now are currently live on my Amazon Merch account with different phrases and they've been there for years. I don't get it.

merch by amazon copyright design content

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Answer 1 · 2023-07-20T17:39:24Z

Donna S Leiper answered Jul 20, '23

I feel your pain. I had a similar issue yesterday uploading designs; several others were accepted, and the only difference was the phrase. There are other shirts with the same phrase. I check every design with the Pretty Merch TM checker. I hate that they send a canned response with a link to their policies, which I know by heart by now, but no answer to exactly why the design was rejected. I have been on Merch for years as well; I am Teir 4000. This time the email was short and straight to the point that next time my account may be terminated with no way to respond, so I forwarded it to merch-sellers-contactus@amazon.com to ask the question and a few more.

I too have a TM; it is the name of my company; it is for clothing; I have a line. I have seen others using the same phrase on other platforms, but I haven't had the time to request a takedown. I asked them, How can I use my own TM without triggering a rejection? I certainly don't want to lose my account, as I make a nice chunk of change with them.

I can't see your designs being rejected for copyright. I don't believe the algorithm picks up on that. For instance, some of the best selling shirts right now have Shania Twain's "Let's Go Girls" on them. Lots of other lyrics are being used, as are the artist's names, like "I Love X artist." Beatles lyrics are used a lot; I see so many shirts with "Let it be" on them. So they are alright with people violating the copyright of artists songs? I don't understand the reasoning they have.

I do notice that shirts uploaded late at night and on weekends are rejected more than ones uploaded during the weekdays. I think the work is farmed out at those times to a country where English is the second language.

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Answer 2 · 2023-07-31T15:45:20Z

Anine Colaire answered Jul 31, '23

It seems that Merch is now broken. I tried a very benign phrase like "Labrador Mom" with my hand drawn, copyright certified image and it was rejected for content violation. This never used to be a problem, but now it happens with every single design. Not wasting anymore time on this nonsense. I can get more traction on Redbubble and Zazzle without the hassle of begging to accept my copyrighted designs.

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Answer 3 · 2023-08-09T12:01:31Z

Stéphanie Roland answered Aug 9, '23

My redbubble account was closed, no clear reason given and you can't ask why, they don't answer.

I have a design now that have been rejected on amazon and I don't know why, nothing is trademarked and I made it myself. The TESS database doesn't work most of the time so I can't check there.

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