To avoid potential problems, before introducing a new product to the market, you need to check whether you will infringe on anyone's intellectual property rights.
One of the important verification steps is to check the product name and logo. If a company only has a brand without a registered trademark, it is important to check whether another company has a similar logo or product name registered as a trademark. If a similar logo or name of a product or service already exists as a registered trademark in another company, then there is a risk of violating its rights, which means there will be a need to create another logo, change the name, wasting time and money. The trademark owner also has the right to stop using the name and logo of the manufactured product or service in court and demand compensation of up to 5 million rubles.
Also in the case of production of a company’s products abroad with its subsequent transportation to Russia. If such a company does not have a registered trademark, it is necessary to check the presence of a similar trademark in the Customs Register of Intellectual Property Objects. If there is one, the company's products may be confiscated and an administrative case may be filed with a fine.
Therefore, before releasing a new product onto the market, it is necessary to check it for patent purity in all countries where it is planned to be produced and distributed. Otherwise, if violations of the right to someone’s trademark or patent are detected, the product may be confiscated and its sale will be prohibited, and the violator may be brought to administrative responsibility with compensation for damages and payment of a fine.
Thus, to more reliably protect a new product, it is necessary to:
- register its name or logo as a trademark before the product or service enters the market, since infringing competitors, tracking unregistered trademarks, can register them in their name and then offer to buy them out or sue them for illegal use of their trademark. The absence of a trademark on a logo or product name also contributes to restrictions in its promotion and sale, since advertisers, as a rule, are more willing to advertise for goods or services only if they are marked with a registered trademark. After registering a logo or trademark, it is entered into the Customs Register of Intellectual Property Objects, which can protect the product from the import of counterfeits if it is produced abroad and imported into Russia;
- it is possible to obtain a patent for an invention or utility model for a product, but first you need to check its patentability. If it satisfies its conditions, then the product must be patented before the goods are released onto the market;
- it is possible to patent a product shape or packaging design as an industrial design, but also before releasing it to the market.
