Mercado Libre: How to Protect Your Brand

MercadoLibre is one of the largest marketplaces in Latin America, with 47% of the region's residents making purchases on the platform. As the marketplace continues to grow and expand beyond Latin America, it's essential to implement brand protection strategies to minimize the risk of reputational damage.

In this article, we'll explore various strategies to protect your brand on MercadoLibre.

We've divided the brand protection strategies into four main areas: brand and trademark registration, brand monitoring, protecting your intellectual property rights, and responding to unauthorized use of your brand.

1. Registration of Brand and Trademarks on Mercado Libre

The most effective way to protect a brand on the marketplace is to register the brand and trademarks on the platform. When registering a brand on MercadoLibre, it's important to carefully follow the platform's requirements. You'll need to provide a copy of the trademark registration certificate and a letter of authorization. MercadoLibre may also require additional information, such as proof of brand ownership. Registering on the site allows you to file complaints against intellectual property infringers and track the use of your brand by other companies across the 18 countries where the marketplace is present.

2. Brand Monitoring

Regularly monitoring brand usage on the marketplace is crucial. Several monitoring tools are available, including third-party services and platform-specific search tools. To effectively monitor brand mentions on MercadoLibre, set notifications for your brand keywords and regularly check sale listings and store names for unauthorized use of your brand.

3. Protection of Intellectual Property Rights

If you discover unauthorized use of your brand on MercadoLibre, take steps to protect your intellectual property rights. Send letters asking for an end to violations, file complaints on the platform, or even sue the violator. To file a complaint on the marketplace, provide evidence of unauthorized use of your brand, such as screenshots of product listings or ads for goods or store names that violate your trademarks.

MercadoLibre offers a "Brand Protection Program" for brand owners and representatives. To join, fill out a form and provide the necessary documents, such as trademark or patent certificates. Within 24-48 hours, you'll receive credentials for the program.

4. Responding to Violations

Knowing how to respond to unauthorized use of your brand on MercadoLibre is crucial. You can file a complaint against the seller on the platform, send them an email, or outsource the work to a third-party monitoring service that will help identify and eliminate infringing content.

Inside the marketplace, you can create black and white lists of sellers. If you find a seller violating your company's intellectual property, blacklist them and track all the product listings they post. The most common verticals where intellectual property infringements occur are cosmetics, personal care products, kitchen utensils, and sportswear and footwear.

Monitoring violations and stopping them is essential. According to marketplace statistics, 60% of sellers who were found infringing rights and received a warning no longer violate them.

BrandMonitor actively monitors all platforms, including Mercado Libre, to help protect your brand. Clients can access all data gathered during the monitoring process in their personal accounts.

Our system searches for new listings featuring counterfeit goods daily and ensures that sellers previously identified for violations do not create new listings with such items. All discovered violations are automatically added to our records, after which we report the violations to the marketplaces and send pre-trial claims to the sellers.

In this way, BrandMonitor helps copyright holders protect their intellectual property rights on the Mercado Libre platform by providing information about infringements and assisting them in taking action to stop these violations.