Everyone who is going to register a TM must first check the trademark , because if the selected brand is already registered, there is no chance to get a certificate.
How to check the brand online and for free?
To begin with, in Ukraine certificates for a sign for goods and services are issued by a state enterprise - Ukrainian Institute of Intellectual Property. It is this state institution that is the custodian and manager of the brand database. Note that absolutely every person who has access to the Internet can check the brand online for free.
Important point: You can check only the registered trademark. What does this mean?
The procedure for obtaining a brand consists of several stages. In order not to go into details, let's divide them conditionally into two:
- Applying for a brand registration
- Direct registration of the brand and obtaining a certificate.
More about each of the stages:
The first stage involves drawing up, roughly speaking, statements about the desire to receive TM. The application includes such information:
- TM designation (text, graphics, text + graphics)
- Classes for registration (each class involves a specific activity)
The second stage comes after a time, even then, when a decision was made to obtain TM.
What does a free trademark check show?
Free trademark check only shows already registered TM. That is, we will not be able to see which applications have been submitted, in a free mode. This significant minus of an open free brand database is very important. Why? When registering there is a priority. For example, if you submitted an application on 01/01/2016, and the second person did it on 02.01.2016, then TM will receive the one who submitted the application earlier. That is why relying solely on free trademark verification is not worth it. The registration procedure is quite expensive and rejection for such a simple reason will be very disappointing.
You can conduct a preliminary, free check of the notation using this form:
How to avoid denial of registration, and what kind of trademark verification to use.
To see already filed applications for trademarks, in a free mode, unfortunately it is impossible. Only patent attorneys can get access to the database of filed applications for trademark registration. This service is paid, but believe me it is cheaper to pay for the search in the database than to receive a refusal to register a brand.
