Any company engaged in the production or sale of products, in order to gain a foothold in the market and be competitive, must protect it or the services provided from copying and unfair competition. In this regard, an important question arises about obtaining exclusive rights to one’s intellectual property.
Trademark, being one of the important objects of intellectual property, allows a company to individualize its products and services in the market, and therefore strengthen its position among competitors. Typically, trademarks are represented in the form of letters, numbers, images, three-dimensional designations, various color combinations, logos, and even sounds and smells. Brands, logos, names, slogans, and domain names can also be registered as a trademark. When developing it, it is important to take into account not only the verbal component, logo, color scheme, but also the design of the room and employee uniform.
In the field of the beauty industry, as in other sectors of the economy, before submitting a mark for registration, it is important to promptly identify the presence of signs of confusion in relation to homogeneous goods or services, and in case of refusal to register them by Rospatent, it is reasoned and timely to challenge its decisions, protecting the interests of manufacturers/suppliers in court and Rospatent.
To successfully register a designation, it is necessary to indicate the classes of the ICGS. For example, perfumes and cosmetics, preparations for hygienic purposes, and toiletries belong to class 3 of the ICGS. They, in turn, correspond to the services of the 44th class of the ICGS: services in the field of hygiene and cosmetics for people, hygienic care, cosmetic care, manicure, massage, hairdressing salons, beauty salons, makeup artist services, sauna and bathhouse services. At the same time, beauty salon and manicure services are additional types of bath services, which indicates their homogeneity, and services of class 44 of the ICGS (for example, a beauty salon) are intended for the sale of hair care products and hair coloring” (3rd class of ICGS).
Registration of a mark with Rospatent provides many advantages, including the right holder has the right to place his mark on goods, labels, packaging, on documents related to the introduction of goods into civil circulation, to use in commercial offers, on signs and in advertising, as well as on the Internet, etc.
A significant advantage of a registered trademark is the right of the copyright holder to prohibit its use by third parties without permission. Otherwise, its legal owner can claim and receive compensation from the violator up to 5 million rubles.
However, it must be remembered that a registered trademark, although it provides its owner with exclusive rights, on the other hand, creates a number of restrictions, since marks are valid only in the country of registration, are valid only in relation to the goods declared when filing an application and have a specific validity period.
In addition, if the trademark owner does not renew it in a timely manner, he may lose the right to use the designation, which may be registered by a competitor.
Particular attention must be paid to marks registered in the USSR, since registration certificates are valid for such marks only in Russia, but not in the CIS countries. For this reason, it is necessary to register a trademark in the country where its owner intends to develop his business. Registration of a mark on the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is most beneficial, since its copyright holder is given the opportunity to conduct commercial activities in all CIS countries - according to the agreement concluded between the countries of the EAEU (“Agreement on Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin of Goods of the Eurasian Economic Union”), it is possible to register a single trademark on the territory of all participating countries (except for sound, olfactory and tactile marks).
