Venice, FL (Nov. 18, 2019) — The Imaging Supplies Coalition for Intellectual Property Protection (ISC) and Amazon signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will initiate a new era of collaboration and intellectual property protection efforts between Amazon and ISC members. The MOU is a reflection of Amazon and ISC’s commitment to protecting customers and rights holders’ IP. Under the agreement, the ISC and Amazon will form a task force to better facilitate knowledge sharing, enforcement against bad actors, and improvement of processes and tools.
“All of the stakeholders of the imaging supplies industry and its customers are negatively affected by IPR infringing and misrepresented products,” said Allen Westerfield, president, ISC. “Online shoppers can be particularly vulnerable and Amazon continues to be the most proactive and collaborative of marketplaces when it comes to fighting infringement. We have a common commitment to create safe and trusted online shopping experiences and we are excited and committed to expand our relationship with Amazon through this new and worthwhile endeavor.”
The ISC’s proactive and collaborative approach aims to combine the coalition’s information, resources, and expertise with those of its partners to advance the fight against IPR infringement as an integral part of its brand protection strategy.
“We believe that collaboration is critical to successfully preventing infringement and partners like the Imaging Supplies Coalition provide effective forums that coalesce industry learnings so we can improve our tools while also educating brands about how best to use them,” said Dharmesh Mehta, vice president, Customer Trust & Partner Support, Amazon.
Amazon’s Brand Registry powers programs such as Project Zero and Transparency which empower rights holders to protect their intellectual property rights in Amazon’s stores. With more than 200,000 brands worldwide enrolled in Brand Registry, brands are reporting an average of 99% fewer suspected infringements post-enrollment than before the launch of Brand Registry and over 99% of product pages viewed by customers have not received a notice of potential infringement.
Both Westerfield and Mehta signed the MOU.
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About ISC
The Imaging Supplies Coalition for International Intellectual Property Protection, Inc. is a non-profit association of imaging supplies original equipment manufacturers. Founded in 1994, the ISC is celebrating its 25th year of protecting its members’ customers from infringing and misrepresented products. This is accomplished by training and education in counterfeit product identification, general exclusion order enforcement, methods of product security, techniques for avoiding telemarketing and e-commerce fraud, and by promoting laws and their enforcement. Coalition members are Brother International Corporation, Canon U.S.A. Inc., Epson America Inc., HP Inc., Lexmark International Inc. and Xerox Corporation.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon.
