How Brand Owners Can Protect Their Intellectual Property Rights on the e-Commerce Platform Mercado Libre

The Brand Protection Program (BPP), the new intellectual property (IP) protection resource from Latin America-centric-commerce platform Mercado Libre, allows rights holders—whether they are sellers on the platform or not—to protect their rights.

The BPP is designed to provide consumers with the best possible buying experience and to fight against the proliferation of counterfeit and pirated goods on Mercado Libre. The program invites rights holders to protect their IP portfolio by reporting to Mercado Libre any listing that may allegedly infringe their IP rights, such as trademarks, patents, copyrights, industrial models, and designs.

With the help of machine-learning technologies, Mercado Libre can learn from filed BBP reports to proactively remove listings of any allegedly infringing products and services and of their sellers and penalize unauthorized sellers who breach the rules on the site.

Brand owners can sign up for this new reporting tool to easily search and report alleged infringement at no cost. Here’s how:

1. Log in:  www.brandprotectionprogram.com​
2. Join: Click on “I want to enroll” and complete the corresponding form.
3. Rights: A brand owner can upload one or more rights, according to its needs, by completing all required information.
4. Validation: Mercado Libre will validate the data, and the brand owner will receive an email with login credentials.
5. Protection: Once in the program, a brand owner will have the possibility of defending its rights in those countries in which the corresponding rights were enrolled (i.e., the same trademark in other countries) and used for bulk reports.

• ​The brand owner may report, on the bulk reports tool, any listings that breach IP rights;
• The seller reported may present an exculpation and may turn in documentation that proves that its listing does not breach any right;
• Once a rights holder has analyzed the documentation and the counter-notice from the seller, the rights holders will be able to rectify or ratify its report;
• ​If the rights holder confirms the report or if the seller does not answer, Mercado Libre will permanently remove the listing. If the rights holder does not answer the seller’s counter-notice, the platform will reinstate the listing.