The marketplace market in the modern world is developing dynamically, as it uses digital technologies to develop logistics and online sales. So some of its sites reach up to 140% growth. Marketplaces provide infrastructure and services for successful trading not only to large and small companies, but also to individuals, but they are most beneficial for small companies that are not ready to invest in advertising. Marketplaces make significant efforts to promote their clients’ products over vast territories.

That is, promoting goods through marketplaces is currently a popular direction for business development, but nevertheless there are certain risks when using them. Therefore, in order to avoid such situations, it is necessary to strictly adhere to certain requirements.

For example, in order to avoid litigation due to violations of intellectual rights due to the use of someone else’s trademark, sellers are required to have a certificate of registration of their designations, which are used when displaying goods on the online display windows of the largest marketplaces in Russia. Registration helps not only to comply with their requirements and legislation, relieving entrepreneurs of risks, but also to increase their competitiveness. Moreover, in a highly competitive environment trademark becomes a key tool for differentiating a manufacturer's products and increasing consumer confidence. It is important to remember that you need to use it on the marketplace in the form in which the mark was registered.

The requirements of each online platform may vary. So, if some sites require strict compliance with requirements in the field of protection of rights in the field of intellectual property, then others may have more lenient conditions. For example, Wildberries allows you to display goods without having a trademark registration certificate in hand, but at the same time relieves itself of responsibility for using someone else’s designation, and the seller, in the event of a conflict of interest, is obliged to independently resolve controversial situations, pay fines and legal costs.

Therefore, before posting information about your product on the marketplace, you need to study in detail the terms of cooperation with it. It is important to remember that in order to conduct a safe business on an online platform, the seller must have a registered trademark, otherwise all interested parties can use it, since the trademark does not legally belong to him.

Another danger for business is patent trolls who identify promising brands, register their unregistered marks, and then send claims to companies in order to receive money from them for the right to use the designation. However, it is important to know that a trademark can be registered even if it has not been used for three years or its validity has not been renewed after 10 years of use.

Defending a trademark in court is difficult and requires significant financial and time expenses. Therefore, it is safer to register your designation in advance, and then promote the product on the marketplace.

In addition, the presence of exclusive rights to the mark will prevent the sale of counterfeit goods by the violator, as well as blocking his cards and demanding compensation for the damage caused.

You need to know that before registering a designation with Rospatent, it is necessary to check it for the presence of similar marks in homogeneous classes of the International Classification of Standards in the Rospatent databases. It must also be unique and original, easy to remember and distinguishable from other trademarks, and also not contain prohibited elements and reflect the main activity of the company.

After all standards are met, a package of documents with an application, a description of the trademark and a receipt for payment of the duty is sent to Rospatent.

At the first stage, Rospatent conducts a formal examination to check the availability of documents necessary for registration of a mark and the correctness of their execution, and then a substantive examination - the trademark is checked for compliance with all the requirements of Rospatent.

After the experts make a positive decision, the applicant receives a trademark registration certificate and becomes the owner of exclusive rights to the mark, which will allow him to comply with the requirements of marketplaces and Russian legislation.

If violations are detected on marketplaces, the violator may be held liable:

- civil law (the violator compensates for the losses of the trademark owner);

- administrative (the violator may pay a fine with confiscation of the goods);

- criminal (the violator faces fines, confiscation of goods, mandatory, corrective, forced labor, arrest and even imprisonment for up to 7 years). 

In conclusion, I would like to add that the presence of registered trademarks helps to distinguish the goods of its copyright holder on the marketplace from counterfeit ones, and therefore will contribute to business development and increase the competitiveness of the company, as well as protect the business from unscrupulous competitors.