Trademark ™
Registered Trademark ®
The most effective marketing tools of any company are corporate identity and logo. They act as a business card and enable each organization to be individual and successful in the market of their area.
For more presentable design of business papers and representation of your organization in advertisement the corporate style of the company - a set of graphic designations and semantic forms that are united by a common idea- is developed.
Corporate identity:
- is a basis for the development of an individual website;
- represents the main components: logo and / or trademark, corporate colors and corporate font that are designed and selected individually for each client;
- has identifying attributes of the enterprise (letterheads, business cards, folders, envelopes, advertising and souvenir products, etc.);
- due to the exceptionality of corporate identity the consumer can easily identify the company, services or product;
- its existence increases the effectiveness of advertisement that is the key to the success of any company.
One of the main steps in the process of creating a corporate identity is often the development of a logo. The logo can be a graphic execution of the company name in the form of:
- stylized letters and / or any image;
- a combination of initial letters that may represent a shortened company name;
- any other marks for the presentation of branded products or services on the market.
The logo is a powerful tool for promoting the company and attracting the attention of the target audience.
Professional custom logo design is often used to further registration of a trademark for goods and services trademark, trademark, TM, TK), which is an important tool for any organization or private entrepreneur.
Trademark itself:
- individualizes the goods and services of one enterprise from another;
- informs the potential client about their properties and quality;
- makes the first impression and establishes contact with consumers;
- unlike logo, trademark is a broader concept as it may include the logo itself, the company phrase and other corporate identity elements that may be registered as a mark for goods and services to protect them and to be legally present on the market.
Considering customer focus and legal aspects, a team of professionals is always happy to assist you in developing a truly competitive logo, trademark and corporate identity with the right legal support, if needed.
The reliability and security of individualization tools gives any business in the market greater stability and confidence than competitors.
Preliminary information searches are conducted to evaluate the conformity of your trademark to the terms of granting legal protection, to identify and analyze already existing registered and filed similar marks. Such searches help to check the mark for goods and / or services (logo, trademark, TM) before entering the market and to be sure that it is unique, i.e. created or developed by the applicant for certain purposes.
Conducting a preliminary search may avoid legal risks through careful checking the newly created logo, already existing company name, combination of letters and other indications by which the applicant intends to label their goods and / or services and have the legal protection.
“Pavlovych & Company Agency” specializes in conducting information searches for trademarks on existing databases and through Internet, both in Ukraine and around the world. At the end of any search the qualified specialists prepare a detailed analysis on the results with a professional opinion regarding the chances of state registration of your trademark.
The process of conducting an information search consists of the following steps:
- defining the basic search terms: image of a designation (verbal, image, combined), types of activity, countries, terms of execution;
- conducting a search;
- systemizing and analysis of found information;
- preparing a report on the obtained results.
The search for the identity and similarity of designations is carried out on the appropriate bases for the conditions provided, namely:
- database of trademarks registered at the territory of Ukraine;
- database of applications submitted for registration at the territory of Ukraine;
- database of international trademarks operating on the territory of Ukraine;
- database of trademarks registered at the territory of foreign countries of interest;
- database of international trademarks operating in the territory of the foreign country of interest (121 countries of the World);
- database of registered trademarks operating in the territory of the European Union (28 EU countries).
Search can help to:
- predict the expediency of TM registration;
- determine the necessity of the designation to be improved in order to increase its chances for registration;
- bring the designation in compliance with all requirements of registration and safe use;
- avoid further problems, additional costs and unnecessary delay in the registration process.
Search term, depending on the specified conditions can be from 3 to 15 working days.
Specialists of our company carry out daily tasks for detailed review and analysis of search information. Therefore, taking into account their large practical experience, they can easily analyze the search results, check for designation for graphic, phonetic and semantic similarity. Finally, they evaluate the measure of similarity of the trademark and the possibility of mixing it with already existing designations.
Trademarks (TM) are the industrial property objects (IPO) that are very popular at the modern market, therefore, the acquisition of rights to these IPOs is an important step in their life cycle as under the current legislation if the owner of the mark does not register his rights to them properly with the further obtaining the certificate, then any person may misuse other people's objects at his discretion.
The following procedures are required for the acquisition of the rights to the TM:
1) Preparation and filing an application with the Ukrainian PTO is carried out by the competent experts of our agency and is an important stage of registration of an industrial property object. The list of goods and services, which is drawn up in accordance with the current legislation, is attached to the trademark application. Therefore, our specialists thoroughly analyze the activities of each client in order to provide an appropriate list of products and / or services that are most relevant to the individual area of activity. After agreeing all the steps regarding the filing a new application for TM, we independently pay the required state fee and file the documents to the State Enterprise “Ukrainian Institute of Intellectual Property” (SE “UIIP”).
2) Conducting an official examination is carried out by the experts of the state institution after receiving the filed application materials. It consists of two stages, namely:
- Formal examination - checks the application for compliance with the formal requirements in accordance with the current legislation, and is carried out after obtaining the document on payment of the application fee for the SE “UIIP”.
- Qualification examination - checks the conformity of the declared designation to the conditions of granting legal protection, defined by the current legislation. Based on the results of the qualification examination, the applicant is informed of a possible decision to issue a certificate or a possible refusal to register the mark.
3) Issuance of the certificate is made after obtaining the documents on the payment of the state duty to Ukrpatent, as well as the payment of the state fee for the publication of the information on the issuance of the certificate in the official bulletin of SE “UIIP”.
This process requires clear and standardized actions.
The main important step in the proper existence of a registered designation is the timely maintenance of the certificate, namely, the extension of the validity of the certificate every 10 years from filing date. Therefore, it is the responsibility of Pavlovych & Co. to promptly remind our clients about necessity of payment and the amount of state fees. Having previously coordinate all the steps regarding the procedure for maintaining the validity of the certificate, we independently pay the required state fee and submit the relevant documents to the government agency, about which we send you our written report.
While creating the trademarks (logo) the applicants more often decide to register their objects not only in the country of origin (for example, Ukraine), but also in the foreign countries, where the products or services presentation with indication of the trademark is planned. The most advantageous procedure for International protection of TM is to register the designation under the Madrid system.
This mechanism of registration and management of the trademarks worldwide is based on relevant International instruments.
§ The Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks is an agreement that facilitates the registration of TM in several countries that have signed the Madrid Agreement (121 countries). According to this agreement the applicant has to submit only one application form and pay the prescribed fee to the International Bureau only. It makes the procedure of trademark registration simpler than the procedure of filling a separate application with the national authorities in each country;
§ Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks is an addition to this Agreement. It is adopted in order to introduce a system of international registration of marks with some new elements that make it easier to join the Agreement by individual countries.
These treaties have also been ratified by Ukraine.
The Madrid system allows the applicant to simplify the procedure of obtaining rights to trademarks in different member states of the Convention. The applicant has the opportunity to reduce his own financial and time costs of obtaining rights under International procedures.
International registration of TM is rather long and time consuming process, but the specialists of our company can provide a complex of services for your convenience, namely:
- help to determine the registration procedure;
- prepare all necessary documents for their filing;
- make any translation (if necessary) for the application under the International procedure;
- apply for registration of your mark;
- prepare a reasoned response to any examination request or other documents for protection of TM under the International procedures;
- record keeping on request, preliminary reconciling all details with the client.
Additionally please note that if needed we can assist you in registering your designation individually in any country with claiming the national priority through a direct application to the Patent Office of the State concerned, as we have competent partners in the whole world.
You can find out more information about the International registration procedure by contacting us personally. We are always glad to answer to any of your questions.
Often the owners of the registered trademarks believe that obtaining a certificate is the final step in protecting their trademark. However, many years of our practice prove that in order to avoid illegal registration of identical trademark or similar to the confusion in the consumers' imagination, the owner can control the filing of new applications for similar trademarks and timely object their registration. Therefore, another important step in protecting the trademark rights is monitoring (watching).
TM monitoring is the continuous or periodic monitoring of the brand's existence in the market of goods and/or services as well as in the databases of applications filed for registration in order to track and avoid competitors' misconduct.
Monitoring is required for:
- tracking the illegal submission of a similar mark by third parties;
- timely filing the objection for registration of illegal TM;
- avoidance of additional costs and time for litigation to assert the rights to a previously registered trademark;
- tracing illegal use of the mark on the Internet and termination of illegal actions for effective business promotion.
The term of monitoring by our specialists depends on the defined conditions and criteria - 2 - 5 working days, every 2 months.
In this case, you will be provided with the results of monitoring conducted, as well as a detailed analysis and recommendations for further actions to protect your trademark.
As a result of state registration, the owner obtains exclusive property right to dispose of a mark for goods and / or services at his own discretion in accordance with the current law.
Therefore, after receiving the certificate he has the right to:
- promote their own brand into the market;
- conduct the search for investors and partners for paying or reimburse the registration costs;
- sell your TM by concluding and state registration of the Assignment Deed;
- grant a license to use the registered trademark to other persons;
- create and sell a franchise.
The Assignment Deed is concluded between two persons and is subject to mandatory state registration. According to the terms of this document, the trademark`s owner for a certain remuneration transfers all exclusive property rights to the assignee.
In this case, each party receives the corresponding benefits and satisfaction of their own needs. For example:
- The owner receives the expected benefit immediately after signing the contract.
- The assignee has the exclusive right to dispose of the mark at his own discretion and becomes the full owner of the TM.
License agreement is concluded between two or more persons and is not subject to obligatory state registration. According to its terms, the owner of a registered TM (licensor) for a certain fee may grant another person (licensee) written authority to use the registered trademark in a certain limited area.
The license for use of a registered trademark may be:
- exclusive – is issued to only one licensee, and he has the right to grant sublicenses for using this mark to another person and excludes the possibility of using the licensor the registered TM;
- single – is issued to only one licensee, but does not exclude the possibility to use by the licensee of this TM in the specified field;
- non-exclusive - may be issued to any number of licensees and does not exclude the possibility of use by the licensee of this TM.
Franchise agreement (commercial concession) - is concluded with one person or company (franchisee) and any trade group (franchisor), which owns the registered mark and profitable business, for the right to use their trademark (brand) for their commercial purposes. In this case, each of the parties receives the corresponding advantages, namely:
- Franchisee (IP rights recipient) - buys a deliberately profitable business, has the opportunity to work in conjunction with a reliable and experienced franchisor who understands how to develop a successful business and is ready to provide with the various assistance to the franchisee.
- Franchisor (IP rights holder) – is interested in the profitability of his ward to obtain his own profit.
The main thing at any stage is the preparation of all necessary documents and the legal agreement, which should clearly state the conditions of registration of the intellectual property object in Ukraine and abroad, as well as the conditions of its use and profit sharing.
Our company provides with a wide range of services that can help to establish partnerships with the national and International companies-partners in short term and with minimal expenses. Due to personal contacts and professional approach to each client, our specialists successfully work and provide qualified services in this field, that can further lead your company to success and worldwide popularity. At the request of the applicants, we participate in negotiations with partners and investors, carry out further necessary work with the registration authorities.
