From time to time, the issue of making changes to a trademark arises before their Copyright Holders. To make changes you must have complete information:
• about the procedure for making changes to a trademark and the necessary requirements for the Trademark Copyright Holder;
• about what can and cannot be changed in a trademark.

To make changes to a trademark, the Copyright Holder must submit an application to Rospatent in the form presented on its official website.

          An application can be submitted by any person whose authority to file an application to change a trademark will be certified by a power of attorney, as well as patent attorneys of the Russian Federation who deal with issues related to means of individualization and have the right to act on behalf of the Copyright Holder.

          When submitting an application to change individual elements of a trademark, it is necessary to draw it up correctly and collect a package of documents:

  • Payment order for payment of patent fees;
  • Power of attorney (if the Trademark Owner resorts to the help of a specialist representing his interests);
  • Constituent documents (if the subject is a legal entity).

          After receiving a package of documents, Rospatent specialists begin to review them and, if necessary, may request other documents. Typically, the processing time for an application is about two months, after which Rospatent makes a positive decision on the possibility of making changes to the trademark or refuses the Rightholder to do so.

          After a positive decision is made, information about the change in the trademark is entered into the State Register of Trademarks, which will also indicate which elements have been changed.

What changes can be made to the trademark

          The list of changes that can be made to a trademark is quite limited. They need to be added only in cases where:

  • the address, name or title of the Copyright Holder has changed;
  • individual elements of the trademark have changed, but its main meaning remains the same;
  • there are errors made and previously undetected.

          The procedure for making changes to a trademark when changing the address or name of the Copyright Holder is considered mandatory, since civil contracts under the previous trademark will be considered invalid. Ignoring the procedure for making changes may have a negative impact on business, since Consumers may be misled, which, according to the articles of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, is unacceptable.