Register a trademark in Ukraine and other ways to protect the brand

The main way to protect your brand is to register a trademark. Today we will talk about how such registration takes place in Ukraine, as well as what to do if you register your trademark for some reason it does not work.

A trademark may be words and phrases, a set of symbols, pictures and simple colors, music and smells, videos and so on, if they are: 

• not associated by the Client with the goods and services of other persons; 
• have minimal distinctions; 
• meet formal criteria (they do not promote national socialist and communist regimes, do not contain names of states, well-known organisations, their emblems and coats of arms, etc.). 

We'll introduce the important nuances of trademark registration:

• When you choose a logo, it is important to check if there are any registered or submitted similar marks; 
• The owners of the trademark may be individuals, including sole proprietorships and legal entities. 
• One person may have an unlimited number of trademarks. But when deciding on the registration of a mark, it should be taken into account that if it is not used for 5 years, it may result in termination of the certificate. 

Trademark registration guarantees you at least: 

• protection against counterfeit products by entering information into the customs register; 
• obtaining a domain as .UA; 
• the opportunity to appeal against infringements of the brand in court; 
• the possibility to transfer the trademark to other persons on "their" terms (including through a "franchise"). 

Trademark registration procedure

Step 1. Submitting an application to Ukrpatent: 

• it is necessary to fill in a special "form" where the logo, its description, list of goods and services for which the mark is applied for registration, contact details of the applicant are specified; 
• then it is necessary to pay a fee for filing the application (its amount depends on the number of classes of goods and services for which the application is filed). 

Step 2. Formal trademark examination. Such expertise provides for verification of submitted documents and their content for compliance with legislative requirements. 

Step 3: Examination of the trademarks meaning, in fact, the most important stage at which the decision to register the mark is taken. A refusal to register may be appealed to the Court of Appeal or the Court. 

Step 4. Getting a certificate of trademark registration. 

If there were no problems during the inspection process - the expert decides on the registration of the mark, then it is necessary to pay fees for the registration and get the certificate itself, which certifies the ownership of the mark. 

The term of trademark registration is about 1.5 - 2 years. If desired, with the help of a qualified lawyer, it can be reduced to about 8-9 months. 

The validity period of the certificate is 10 years from the date of application, which can be extended an unlimited number of times. 

Other possible ways to protect your brand

In case of refusal to register a trademark or in case of other circumstances, other methods of brand protection can be chosen, in particular: 

• another attempt to register a trademark when making changes to such mark;
• patenting an industrial design; 
• use of the word mark as a commercial name. 

The choice of ways to protect a brand depends on the goals set by the entrepreneur and the type of object to be protected, so this issue should be considered at the stage of planning brand development. 

If you need help with brand registration quickly and easily, please call us. We can also help with other ways to protect your brand.