Why register a trademark?

Decided to open your own business? Do you follow all the rules and register a company in the tax office? Why, then, can you “fly in” a large fine and drive a still fragile company into debt? Many business owners find themselves in this situation, who considered that it is not necessary to register their trademark (trademark), or simply did not take this moment into account. It may happen that the name of your company matches the name of a brand from another city, and then you have to pay this money. How to avoid problems and register a trademark, we will tell further.

First, let’s take a look at the definition itself. A trademark is an individual designation of your company, which helps the public to distinguish it from competitors (in accordance with the law). Here you can include everything that will help consumers recognize you – this is a corporate melody, name, logo, slogan. The listed determinants should be registered so that no one but you can use them in their activities.

What are the guarantees of trademark registration?

First of all, you get security, confidence in the preservation of your investments. Owning a trademark, the owner can safely invest a lot of money in brand promotion – increasing awareness among buyers, PR in social networks, promotion in search engines, printing advertising banners and renting billboards. There is a real opportunity to promote the company without the risk of losing it. 

Without registration, everything is already not so simple – and it’s not always about the risk of another company with your name appearing and registering it. There are so-called patent trolls who are specifically looking for unregistered companies and register their trademark for themselves, thereby further extorting money from real owners for using the mark.

But there are interesting cases when registering a trade mark does not help to recover a fine from companies for an identical name. For example, let’s take any individual entrepreneur who decided to register a name that matches the name of a foreign company that has been legally conducting its activities for a long time, but has not registered its trademark in our country. 

An individual entrepreneur will decide through the court to collect a fine from a foreign company for using its own mark, however, the company will be able to challenge the court decision and avoid a fine. Why? An individual entrepreneur created a registration not in order to uniquely his products, but in order to make a claim and receive money as a fine.

Benefits of registering a trademark

 With an increase in company and brand recognition, profits increase;

• it becomes possible to grant the right to use the mark under a license and receive royalties;
• you can offer a franchise;
• you can file lawsuits against violators and receive compensation from them, and violators, as practice shows, will definitely appear;
• there is an opportunity to cooperate with well-known networks, for example, Auchan, Lamoda and others;
• it becomes possible to turn the brand into an intangible asset of the company, which, accordingly, increases its value.

What is required to register a trade mark?

The existing nuances from the legal side of creating patents for intellectual property are clearly indicated in the legislation, and already registered ones are entered in the intellectual property register, where you can check whether an object in your niche is free or already occupied. 

From the existing 45 classes (International Classification of Goods and Services), you must choose in which class to register your intellectual property, in accordance with your activities. If you make shoes and decide to take the name “Free street” in class 25 (clothes, shoes and hats), then no other clothing or shoe manufacturer will be able to take on this name. But firms that, for example, are engaged in the creation of musical instruments or provide photo services will also be able to register the identical name “Free street”, only in their class.

In turn, well-known brands can register a name that no one else can take for themselves, even in a different class. A company that is recognizable and popular in society can apply for a trademark as well-known. After confirmation by an authority that checks and recognizes recognition, your intellectual property will become publicly known and no one else can register the name for themselves in any class.