Advantages of registering a business for an individual entrepreneur as a trademark

     To engage in business, you must have the status of a legal entity, individual entrepreneur (IP) or be self-employed. This article examines the possibility registration of the name of the individual entrepreneur's business as a trademark. Officially, the abbreviation “IP” is used for an individual entrepreneur, indicating the last name, first name, and patronymic of the entrepreneur. For example, the owner of the Beauty salon is individual entrepreneur Maria Sergeevna Tsvetkova. In this case, in all official documents of this salon, Maria Sergeevna Tsvetkova will be listed as “IP Tsvetkova M.S.” This name can be registered. Also in accordance with Art. 1482 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, you can register the name of an entrepreneur’s business in the form of a verbal trademark, logo, packaging design, slogan, or a combination thereof.

That is, in addition to the legal name, an individual entrepreneur may also have a commercial name, which reveals the uniqueness of the services provided and helps increase business recognition. When choosing a name for an individual entrepreneur, it is important to make sure that there is no similarity to the point of confusion with existing trademarks included in the Register, according to the available FIPS databases, and those that are in the process of consideration.

     Before applying for registration, it is necessary to check the classes of the ICGS, since a trademark protects a business in relation to goods and services of the selected classes. For example, before registering the business name “IP Tsvetkova M.S.” it is necessary to check whether “Beauty” is among the brands that are already registered in classes 44, 9, 20, 25, including hairdressing services.

It is important to remember that the following names cannot be used or registered as trademarks:

- indicating a connection with the state (Russian, state, federal, etc.);

- titles of works or names of characters;

- superlatives - “best”, “most” (without evidence of such status) or indicating the type of product, its properties, purpose (for example, if you apply to register a trademark “cosmetics” for a cosmetics store), etc.

     A significant advantage of registering the name of an individual entrepreneur as a designation is not only the ability to defend against lawsuits and claims of competitors, but also the inability on their part to sell goods or provide services under this name. If such a violation is discovered, they can be forced to remove the name on the sign and pay compensation for its use.

      If a website plays a dominant role in business activities, and the name of the individual entrepreneur’s business is registered as a trademark, then the entrepreneur can choose a domain name that is close in meaning to his name. For example, for a beauty salon, the domain name may look like “Beauty.rf” and if a competitor’s website is discovered under such a domain, then in court you can get the Internet site renamed and receive compensation for the illegal use of the domain name.

     However, it should be taken into account that if an individual entrepreneur’s domain is similar to someone’s already registered brand as a trademark, then the entrepreneur’s website may be blocked or prohibited from selling certain goods or services on it.

     The registered name of an individual entrepreneur allows not only to prohibit competitors from using it in advertising (for example, if a violation is detected, you can send a claim to the technical support of the advertising platform and the advertisement will be removed from publication), but also to prevent the import of counterfeit goods into Russia with the same designation, and therefore minimize reputational risks (for this, the trademark is entered into a special customs register).

     Often you can see the ® symbol on product packaging, advertising or marketing materials, which means that the product is original and copying it is a gross violation. However, it should be remembered that without registering a trademark, its use will also be considered an infringement. If there is no registered individual entrepreneur name as a designation, its owner may also be prohibited from selling goods on the Internet. As a rule, marketplaces require documents confirming the registration of a trademark and, in their absence, do not allow entrepreneurs to enter their sites.

     When submitting an application to Rospatent for registration of an individual entrepreneur’s business name as a designation, it is necessary to indicate: the types of goods or services provided, as well as the corresponding classes of the IKGS; information about the applicant (full name, address); name of the individual entrepreneur applied for registration; description of the designation; documents confirming the fact of payment of the duty.

     After successfully passing the formal examination (checking the availability of the necessary documents and the correctness of their execution) and the substantive examination (checking the protectability of the IP name), the IP name will be registered, the information will be included in the State Register, after which the owner of the IP will receive a certificate of registration of the IP name.