A trademark is a name, term, sign, symbol, design or a combination of these elements, which are used to distinguish the goods or services of a seller or group of sellers and distinguish them from the goods or services of competitors.
To obtain exclusive rights to a brand name (name, slogan or logo), it is necessary to go through the procedure of trademark registration (hereinafter referred to as TM).
Such registration is carried out by the Ukrainian Institute of Intellectual Property, and upon its completion you receive a Certificate for a mark for goods and services (hereinafter referred to as the Certificate).
There are three types of trademarks:

• Verbal.
• Figurative
• Combined.

In the first version, a TM can contain only a text part, the second involves the registration of a visually designed sign (drawing, symbol, combination of colors), and the third allows you to obtain protection for a combination of a name and logo (words and images).
The key condition for registering a TM is uniqueness. You can obtain protection only for a previously unregistered designation.
It is also worth mentioning the classes for registration. Each TM is registered for certain goods or services for which it will be used. Identical TMs can exist in different classes, provided that they do not violate the rights of third parties and cannot mislead the consumer.
The price (cost) of registering a trademark depends on a number of factors. You need to decide what exactly you want to protect, who will be the owner of the Certificate (an individual or legal entity, or if there will be several owners), the number of classes, the term for obtaining the Certificate, etc.
TM registration can be conditionally divided into five stages:

I. Preparation and sending of application materials. (The application is checked for the presence of all necessary documents and materials, and the fact of payment of the state duty is also checked)

II. Expertise decision on assigning an individual number to the application for a mark for goods and services and setting a priority date. (Within 2 months, you will receive the examination decision “On establishing the date of filing the application”. The rights to the trademark begin to apply directly from this date.)

III. Formal examination. (6 months after filing the application, the correctness of the application materials and their compliance with the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On the Protection of Rights to Marks for Goods and Services”, as well as the compliance of the declared list of goods and services with the International Classification of Goods and Services (ICGS), is checked. In case of non-compliance of the application materials with any of the established requirements, the applicant is sent a notification indicating the violated requirement. Within two months, the applicant has the opportunity to correct the error or make clarifications to the application materials. If the application materials meet all the established requirements, the application proceeds to the next stage.

IV. Qualification examination. (During this examination, a search is carried out for identity and similarity with previously registered and submitted for registration designations, with subsequent comparison of the detected designations with the declared sign.)

V. Procedure for entering information about your registered trademark into the State Register of Marks for Goods and Services and obtaining the corresponding Certificate.
The Certificate is valid for 10 years. This term can be extended for another 10 years, upon payment of the appropriate state fee.
Thus, the Owner of the registered designation receives legal protection of registered brand names. TM will allow you to fight against unfair competition, counterfeiting and improper use of the brand by third parties. In addition, you will be able to obtain a UA domain of the same name, will receive the right to transfer the possibility of using the TM to third parties, and will also receive the right to place the international ® marking next to the registered trademark (trademark), which indicates that this trademark (trademark) is registered in the territory of Ukraine and is protected by current legislation.

Lex Consulting law firm provides legal services to assist in registering a trademark in Ukraine.