Trademark can “live” for a very long time, being inherited from generation to generation either within one family or from one company to another
For example, application No. 110 for a certificate of registration of a trademark
(Certificate No. 83 is still valid) for the Sunlight soap originally belonged to the copyright holder Lever Vlaardingen B.V., Vlaardingen (NL). Further, under the license agreement, the right to exclusive use of the trademark was received by Unilever N.V. (NL) from the copyright holder Lever Vlaardingen B.V., extending its validity until 02/02/2008, then until 02/02/2018, and then until 02/02/2028.
The history of the development strategy of the Unilever N.V. company, and with it the Sunlight trademark, is interesting. It was formed as a result of the merger of several European companies.
Initially (since 1874), the history of the development of the Lever brothers' business began with the fact that in their store they sold Lever's Pure Honey soap, made especially for them. And the history of the birth of the trademark began a little later, when the Lever brothers developed the original formula for excellent quality soap and gave it the name Sunlight. Being a talented and prudent manager, William Lever acquired the Vinolia company, which produced toilet soap, in 1906, then in 1910, Hudson's (a soap powder manufacturer), and from 1910 to 1915, three more English soap companies. Subsequently, Unilever continued to develop and enter the markets of other countries through the acquisition and takeover of local companies.
Today, Sunlight continues to be a well-known brand of laundry soap, laundry detergent and dishwashing detergent manufactured and sold worldwide by Unilever (successor to Lever Brothers).
This company has also gained fame in the Russian market. Thus, in Russia in 1926 an application was filed for the VIM trademark, the copyright holder of which was the already known Lever Sunlight (NL). However, it was registered only in 1936.
Currently, soap is produced under this mark in India, and it is sold in Russia.
The above example clearly demonstrated that, if certain conditions are met, a trademark can be successfully used for many decades, even if its owners change. It is important not to forget to extend the established standard validity period. Otherwise, you can not only lose the mark as an object of intellectual property, but also lose your monopolist status in the domestic and/or international markets, which poses a threat to business development.
In the Russian Federation, the validity period of a trademark right is 10 years. To renew it, it is necessary to submit a corresponding application to Rospatent with a payment document confirming payment of the established fee during the last year of registration. The validity period of a trademark is counted from the date of filing the application for registration, and an application for its renewal can be submitted not only in the last year of validity of its registration, but also within 6 months after its expiration. You can renew your trademark rights an unlimited number of times.
It should be noted that you can renew the validity yourself, but it is still safer to delegate this procedure to patent attorneys, since they have the ability to access databases that automatically remind you of the expiration dates of the mark, which will allow them to provide timely services for renewing the validity of the mark.
In addition, patent attorneys always have information about the current amounts of the fee and details for its payment, as well as changes and additions to the legislation, ignorance of which can lead to delays and possible loss of designation.
Therefore, attracting specialized specialists to provide this service seems more appropriate, and in this case, trademarks can serve for a long time and effectively.
