Trade-mark registration

“Business Solutions” company provides professional assistance in registration of your trade-mark.

Trade mark is a designation (verbal, visual, combined or otherwise), which serves to individualize goods of legal entities or individual entrepreneurs.

In everyday life we often use such names as "trade name", "logo", "trade mark", "brand".

The phrase "trade name" originated from the English language. This term is used, for example, in documents of WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), but not in the Russian legislation. "Brand" is not so much a legal concept as a marketing concept and is generally considered much broader than trademark. "Logo" is an original designation, often used with unusual prints.

In their nature, all these names are synonymous, but trademark is a more legally precise concept. Of all these only trademark is an object of intellectual property, protection of which is guaranteed by our legislation.

Trademarks may be represented by words, a combination of letters, phrases, images, three-dimensional objects, as well as designations combining several types of designs in any combination of colors.

An original, interesting, successful brand is able to bring popularity and success to a company if it has competent organization of its business.

Registration of a trademark gives its owner the exclusive right to use the trademark.

Trademark registration is provided by Federal executive authority on intellectual property (Rospatent) or rather by its subordinate agency - Federal State Budget Institution "Federal Institute of Industrial Property" (FSBI FIIP). According to the results of registration the owner of the trademark gets a protection document (certificate) confirming his exclusive right for the trademark. Registering a trademark in Rospatent guarantees protection provided for a trademark on the territory of the Russian Federation. Registration of a trademark requires certain financial investments.

There is often a question if it is necessary to register a trademark? Can it be used without registration?

Of course, you can use your mark (trademark, brand, logo) without registering it and label your products or services with it. However, in this case, do not be surprised with possible claims of third parties, which can successfully register your mark (or mark confusingly similar to your mark) and require from you to cease its use and pay a compensation for the violation of their rights.

Without registration a designation which marks goods and services is extremely vulnerable. Only after the state registration you will receive an exclusive right to a trademark which is supported by a certificate. Your right for the mark will be fixed properly and no one else is entitled to use this mark (or a mark confusingly similar to your's) for goods and services for which your mark was registered.
A rightful owner of a trademark shall have a whole set of tools to protect his rights against possible violations. In addition, a registered trademark becomes your intangible asset that can bring substantial profit. In particular, a trademark can be sold, given for a fee for use by third parties on basis of a specially issued license, given as a mortgage to a bank.

On average, a trademark registration procedure takes 10-12 months, but in practice this period is often increased to 14-16 months. The procedure of trademark registration is done in several stages:

- Conduct a preliminary search (recommended).

In order to avoid refusal of trademark registration the designation must be checked for identity and similarity with other symbols that have been submitted for registration and that have already been registered. A positive result of such a check is a good guarantee of trademark registration. There is possibility of rapid express Rospatent database search of previously registered trademarks. However, even with the positive outcome of this search it is recommended to conduct a complete search (including applications for consideration in Rospatent). The search will reveal the designations that will prevent the registration of created designations because of their earlier priority.

- Preparation of an application for trademark registration.

The application must include:

• an application for registration of a trademark with the name of the applicant, as well as with the address of his location or place of residence;
• the designation;
• the list of goods in respect of which the trademark registration is applied for and which are grouped according to the classes of the International Classification of Goods and Services for registration of trademarks (hereinafter - ICGS);
• a description of the designation.

- Filing the application to the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks (Rospatent).

The application and its accompanying documents are submitted directly or sent to Rospatent by mail. The application (except for the image of the designation for registration) is submitted in duplicate. Upon receipt of the application the registration authority assigns it with a ten-digit registration number (the first four digits indicate the year of filing the application, the fifth digit is the code of the object of industrial property, the remaining five digits represent sequence number of the application in the series of the year). After receipt of the application materials the applicant is given a notice with the registration number of the application and the date of its receipt.

- Consideration of an application for trademark registration

On receipt of the application for trademark registration Rospatent performs the following:

Giving priority to the application.

Formal examination of the application (1 month).

Examination of the designation (12-15 months).

Decision on registration or refusal of trademark registration.

- Registration of a trademark

In case of a positive decision by Rospatent on the registration of the designation as a trademark, it is registered in the State Register of Trademarks, a certification is issued and the data on trademark registration is published within 2 months from the date of the document confirming payment of state duty. There is possibility of accelerating the process of a trademark certificate receipt.

Trademark registration is valid for 10 years from the date of filing an application to Rospatent.
Validity of a trademark registration may be extended at the request of the right holder, submitted during the last year of its validity, each time for ten years.

Thus, we can conclude that registration of a trademark is a long procedure that requires some investments and does not always bring a positive result. Overall, however, the cost of registering a trademark is incomparable with possible losses connected with loss of the rights to it. It is necessary to register intellectual property, thereby securing the exclusive rights, not only for legal entities, but also, of course, for individual entrepreneurs who care about the reputation and prospects of their business.

How to find out about the cost of services and order a professional consultation?

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