Right to a brand: why do individuals and self-employed people need a trademark and when is it worth registering it

Since June 29, 2023, self-employ individuals and natural persons can register their trademarks with Rospatent . Previously, this was only available to individual entrepreneurs and LLCs. We tell you who nes a brand patent, how the trademark registration procure for individuals works, and how much it costs.

Why do you ne a trademark?

A trademark is a designation (verbal, pictorial, three-dimensional, combin, sound, taste and smell) that allows you to individualize goods on the market. In essence, it is a register brand designation that legally distinguishes and protects you or your company from competitors.

Imagine a market with many identical honey stalls – they are no different, except that the sellers are all different. They have no brand. But in the very corner of the market you can see a bright sign “Honey from Uncle Vanya” and the signature “family apiary in the Altai region”. Are you interest? That’s how a brand works.

But competitors, seeing that honey from

Uncle Vanya is being snapp up faster than from others, can also make such a sign. This is where a trademark comes in handy – it legally certifies the brand name as your property. Even if competitors copy the name, you can go to court and you will be right, and you will also receive compensation from the violators.

What benefits can you get from registering a trademark:

Registration will help improve the recognition of the offer products. Customers will remember the brand name, as well as its logo.
The copyright holder will be able to promote themselves through advertising without fear of patent trolls. Their goal is to extract profits that significantly exce the actual value of patents and certificates. For example, they can register the name of your store as a trademark before you, and then demand compensation for the alleg violation of their rights.

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A designation enter into the Rospatent registers can be pass on by inheritance.
A person will be able to either expand production of products under a personal brand or sell the rights to a trademark.
A trademark cannot be register for all goods and services. For example, you cannot obtain a trademark for.

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Generally accept designations, such as Spartakiad.

Misleading designations – for example, if you include the word “France” in the name, buyers will think that the product is made in France. If this is not the case, then the name is misleading.
Designations that were once brand but have become common. For example, Pampers – the word has become a household word.
Designations that are contrary to public interests, principles of humanity and morality.
These are just a few examples. The full list of restrictions is in Article 1483 of the Civil Code of the Russian Feration.

How to register a brand

What nes to be done to register a trademark

1. Come up with a trademark. Make sure it:

is not similar to other brands in the same field of activity;
does not violate the requirements of morality and ethics, or the norms of legislation.
Please note that brand names can only be repeat in different classes of the International Classification – for example, two grocery stores with different owners cannot be call “Alenushka”, but you can open, for example, a beauty salon under this name.

You can check whether there are any overlaps with already register brands on the Online Patent website .

2. Collect a package of documents for Rospatent:

draw up an application for state registration of a trademark;
attach the sign itself to it;
determine the list of goods or services according to the International Classification of Goods and Services (ICGS);
Please provide a description of the mark propos for registration.
In addition, you will ne to sign consent to the processing of personal data.

You can select the ICGS class yourself using phone number my the reference book (taking into account the plann activity) or after contacting a company specialist for advice.

3. Pay the state fee. The amounts of payments establish by law can be found here .

4. Collect all the materials and send them to Rospatent. This can be done in person (at the agency’s office in Moscow), via the FIPS or Gosuslugi websites (this requires a qualifi electronic signature), or by mail.

5. Wait for the results of the examination:

formal – assess the documentary part for compliance with the law;
substantive checks – Rospatent experts analyze the brand bas on several indicators, including similarity with those already includ in the register.
6. If there are no violations, pay for trademark registration.

The entire process takes a maximum of one and a half years. But if there are no questions from the Department, it can be done in six months.

How much does it cost to register a trademark
Trademark registration can cost from 20 to 50 thousand rubles. What does the price consist of:

Registration of an application will cost 3,500 rubles, and for each class of the International Classification you will have to pay an additional 1,000 rubles;
checking a trademark for originality costs 11,500 rubles for one class and 2,500 rubles for each additional one;
the registration itself costs 16,000 rubles, but for each class you will have to add an additional 1,000 rubles;

The certificate costs 2,000 rubles

The validity period of a trademark registration unspoken agendas can create certificate is 10 years . Therefore, having protect your brand, do not forget to renew it , otherwise any other individual or legal entity will be able to register it for themselves.

In addition, if there are errors in the documents, they will also have to be paid for – each correction costs 2,800 rubles. Every year, about 100 thousand applications are submitt to Rospatent , and ⅔ of them are sent for correction. Therefore, it is better to double-check all documents several times or entrust the design to professionals, for example, Online Patent . Experts will save you money on possible errors.

A practical example. In 2015, the Arbitration Court of the Kaliningrad Region heard a case regarding the trademark “SAUCONY”. The company name was enter into the Rospatent register. Later, the copyright holder found the website saucony.ru online, which did not officially belong to him. The court agre that posting the portal on the Internet was illegal: the violator was prohibit from using the register trademark in the domain name, and compensation in the amount of 300 thousand rubles was collect (decision of the Arbitration Court of the Kaliningrad Region No. A21-10484/2015 dat 16.05.2015 ). This position remain unchang until the Supreme Court of the Russian Feration.

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