Episode summary

If you shop at Amazon much, you've seen a lot of weird brands. I just searched for juggling balls, and here's a sample of the brands it showed: Duncan, Zeekio, POITOI, Schylling, GloFX, Elcoho, Leitee, GoSports, Lawei, URATOT, Cedilis, DSJUGGLING, speevers.

Have you ever wondered why? If not, now's the time to consider it, because the way Amazon does business has massive implications for every American.

The short version is this: Amazon actively recruits oversea sellers, particularly Chinese. Amazon incentivizes all sellers to participate in their Brand Registry program, which requires a trademark. Trademarks currently take 12-18 months to get, and picking random letters and smashing them together makes it faster because it's obvious there's no conflict with an existing trademark.

We will be discussing some of the implications of this system, and strategies for finding quality products in the crowded Amazon marketplace. In the meantime, take some time to ponder what all this means to you.

Links

Amazon Brand Registry Requirements

How Long to Register a Trademark

NY Times - How Amazon is causing us to drown in trademarks

Why Amazon Products Have Those Weird Names

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