In June 2023, Federal Law No. 193-FZ of June 28, 2022 “On Amendments to Part Four of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation” came into force, which is aimed at persons engaged in self-employment. According to the adopted law, individuals, including the self-employed, have the opportunity to register trademarks, which allows them to protect their brand from illegal copying and use by competitors and protect their logo.
Self-employed people differ from entrepreneurs and individuals in that they produce and sell their products themselves, without the right to hire workers. On the contrary, entrepreneurs can engage in several activities, open production workshops, hire employees to produce goods or provide services, and the individual is an employee and performs work provided by the employer. Only citizens of the Russian Federation and such countries of the Eurasian Economic Union as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, and Belarus can become self-employed. Self-employed foreigners, but not those with individual entrepreneur status, can also register a trademark in Russia.
Having become the copyright holders of trademarks, self-employed citizens, according to the adopted law, can dispose of them at their own discretion, have a legal monopoly on their use, which helps to increase competitiveness and prohibit their use by competitors, and if violations are detected, demand payment of monetary compensation.
Preferential conditions for self-employed
is not required by law, but there are general requirements that must be met when submitting an application. Thus, in order to register a trademark, it is necessary to prepare a correctly executed package of documents, pay the fees established by Rospatent, providing documents confirming payment, and correctly fill out an application indicating the list of goods and services by class in accordance with the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Registration of Marks (ICGS). Before submitting documents, it is important to check the designation for protectability in accordance with the requirements of civil law, conduct research on the novelty of the designation in order to identify identical or confusingly similar trademarks applied for or registered in the name of third parties.
After an examination by Rospatent specialists and a positive decision, the trademark for the self-employed is also registered in the State Register of Trademarks of the Russian Federation, and the copyright holder receives a certificate of registration of the mark. From this moment on, the copyright holder has the exclusive right to use the trademark in any way that does not contradict the law. In order not to lose this right ahead of schedule, the self-employed person is obliged to use it in the form in which it was registered and in relation to those goods and (or) services that were indicated in the certificate and remember that failure to use the mark within three years may also be the reason for early termination of its validity.
Thus, given the increase in the number of self-employed people and the objective need to individualize the products they produce or services they provide along with other market participants, providing them with the opportunity to obtain an exclusive right to a trademark helps stimulate the growth of business activity of citizens. In addition, amendments made to the legislation regarding persons who have the opportunity to register their trademark equalize the rights of Russian and foreign persons, which also contributes to the development of small businesses.
