What is a preliminary search?
A preliminary search of trademark is a procedure to identify the previously declared and registered trademarks (brands), which are identical or similar to the tested trademark (brand) with its verbal part, design part or both.

We can conduct searches for you in Ukraine, Russia, using Madrid System or the base of symbols of the European Community (Community Trademark Registration in European Union) at different times. Specialists of our Agency will certainly help you to choose the most appropriate option for your search.

In accordance with the Civil Code of Ukraine, a trade name is a symbol or a combination of symbols which are capable to distinguish the goods (services) of one manufacturer (service provider) from the goods (services) of another manufacturer (service provider).

We register trade names on the territory of Ukraine, Russia, directly on the territory of other countries, using the Madrid System, and trade names of the European Community (Community Trademark Registration in European Union). We will be glad to tell you in details about advantages or disadvantages of different types of registration procedure.

Possible periods of registration of trademark in Ukraine:

1. STANDARD registration period lasts 1-1,5 years.
2. ACCELERATED registration period lasts 8-8,5 months.
3. SUPER-ACCELERATED registration period lasts only 2-2,5 months and it is often used for subsequent registration of domain name in the zone .UA.

The territory of legal protection of trademark

The principle of registration and legal protection of trademarks is national, i.e. registration of designation by legal entity or individual in one country does not grant them the rights to such designation in another country. To do this you need to register in a particular country or countries.

We register trademarks in Russia, directly on the territory of other countries, using the Madrid System and trademarks of the European Community (Community Trade Mark Registration in European Union). Below you can find out more information about advantages and disadvantages of different registration procedures.

We successfully cooperate with experienced specialists in the field of intellectual property in different countries such as Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Belgium and China.

General legal issues of copyright and neighbouring right are very voluminous and multifaceted, that’s it is not possible to describe them in this subsection. It is not also judicious, because you can become familiar with these issues in detail in articles 433-448 of the Civil Code of Ukraine as well as in the Law of Ukraine "On copyrights and neighbouring rights".

We have analysed which questions you are interested in the most in the process of registration of copyright, i.e. in practice. So this subsection is devoted to answers of these questions.

The most frequently people turn to us for registration of copyright in computer programs, content on a web-site, music (with or without text), literary works, photographs, drawings (design), clothes design etc. There are some specifics of registration of copyright in works created in connection with implementation of employment agreement (office work).

If you can not find the answer to your question, please contact us in convenient way and the specialists of our Agency will advise you on it.

Every manufacturer is interested in having his goods as soon as possible find their consumers. On the way to consumption your goods are passing the stages of storing, transportation, distribution and sale. The qualitative good marking with barcodes ensures efficient operation at all stages. First of all, barcode is a practical tool and because of it the accounting operations are carried out during delivery and sale of goods.

Barcode (bar-code) is a sequence of black and white stripes, representing the information in a form easy to read by technical means. Bar-coding is engaged by international non-profit and non-governmental organization called the Association of EAN (European Article Numbering), established in 1977. In Ukraine, its functions are performed by the Association of Article Numbering “GS1 Ukraine” (until 20.12.2006 it was called “EAN-Ukraine”), established in September 1994.

The rapid development of design art has resulted in consumers are becoming more interested in the goods they buy to be not only useful but also attractive aesthetically. This makes manufacturers not only invest more money in the design, but think seriously about protecting the results of designers’ creative activity by the obtaining the rights to industrial designs.

An industrial design, as one of the objects of intellectual property, is the result of human creative activity in the field of artistic design. In other words, this is original, aesthetic and decorative decision of article (product, good) appearance. An industrial design is intended to attract buyers to its appearance. In most cases the appearance of product becomes the determining factor of its selling.

Industrial designs must be registered in the proper way for the protection from unauthorized copying or imitation. Industrial design protection means that industrial design can not be copied or imitated without the permission from its owner, that’s why copies or imitations, made without such permission, can not be sold or imported. The document, which certifies the ownership of the industrial design, is called Patent for industrial design.

The specialists of our Agency provide a full range of services for registration of industrial designs, beginning from the preliminary consultations to obtaining a patent.

Speaking the language of the legislator, an invention as well as a useful model is the result of human intellectual activity in any field of technology. An object of an invention and a utility model can be device, substance and process in any field of technology.

Protection document that certifies priority, authorship and property right on an invention (a utility model) is a patent which is issued for 20 years from the date of application (for inventions) and for 10 years from the date of application (for utility models).

Preparation of documents for obtaining a patent for invention or utility model requires not only the spending much time and knowledge in the field of intellectual property. It also requires considerable experience in this area and, a rule, special technical education.

That is why an experienced patent attorney, who has 20 years of work experience, works for our Agency and he leads this area.

So how can you become a patent owner for invention or utility model? It is important to remember that for inventions and utility models there are special criteria for patentability, i.e. phrase "I have some idea of…" is not enough. As a minimum, you have to know the answers to such questions as: What is the uniqueness of your device (substance or process)? Which advanced characteristics does it have compared with the existing devices (substances or processes)? etc.

The most often we come across with the matter of the registration of the domain name in zone .UA. There is a common mistake to think that one can register the domain .UA by the application number. It is not so, because its registration requires the availability of the registered trade mark. Attention, dear clients: not simply a trade mark, submitted for the registration, but those one, which has already passed all the registration stages and which is supported by the document of title, i.e. Certificate. This is the obligatory precondition of the Rules of the domain name .UA.

To meet the given goal, the optimal variant will be the super-accelerated registration procedure, which allows to get the certificate in 2 – 2.5 months from the moment of the filing of an application.

With the view that the most applicants are not familiar with the above-mentioned information, the given sub-section we have decided to devote to the peculiarities of the domain name registration in the .UA zone. In the process of the material preparation we first of all were taking into account those questions, to which you most of all want get answers from us. In the present sub-section you also will be able to find another useful for you information.

Management of property rights to the intellectual property is performed on the basis of the following contracts: 
1) license for using the legal object of the intellectual property; 2) license agreement; 3) contract on the order creation and usage of the legal object of the intellectual property; 4) contract on the transfer of the exclusive property rights to the intellectual property; 5) other contracts, connected with the management of property rights to the intellectual property (particularly the franchise agreement or franchise contract as it is often called).

The given subpart is devoted to the peculiarities of contracts on the transfer of the exclusive property rights to the intellectual property and main requirements to their conclusion.

According to the contract on the transfer of the exclusive property rights to the intellectual property one party (a person, who is the holder of the exclusive property rights) transfers partially or fully these rights to the other party in accordance with the law and on the terms, specified in the contract.

Specialists of our Agency will competently and professionally work out contracts on the transfer of ownership rights to intellectual property objects you are interested in, on the basis of the determined tasks, specified by you and on the basis of terms, required by you.

According to the licensing agreement, one party (licenser) concedes to the second party (licensee) the permission to use the object of a right to the intellectual property (license) on terms, determined by the mutual agreement of the parties, regarding the requirements of the legislation.

One of the differences between the licensing agreement and rights transfer contract is the fact that the holder of the object of a right to the intellectual property, who is signing the contract, remains the same and is not changed.

Particularly, licensing agreements are not subject to the obligatory state registration. Nevertheless, in the recent time, both parties of the licensing agreement agree that such a registration is necessary for their own security. And the cost of the procedure of the agreement state registration is rather acceptable. More details about kinds of the license and peculiarities of the licensing agreement you will find below.

Specialists of our Agency will skillfully and professionally work out the licensing agreements to the objects of the intellectual property you are interested in, on the basis of the tasks, specified by you and terms, required by you.

The practice shows, it is not important only to get the legal protection of own object of the intellectual property, but also to take care of the reliable protection of own rights.

One of the methods of protecting one’s rights is the procedure of registering the objects of the intellectual property in the register, performed by the State customs service of Ukraine to perform the customs control over the movement of the present products through the customs terminals of Ukraine.

It should be noted that for September 28, 2010, the List of objects of the right of the intellectual property, included to the customs register, contained 228 objects, predominantly trade marks.

For putting the object of the intellectual property to the customs register of Ukraine, one should prepare and submit to the customs bodies a set of documents, provided by the Ukrainian legislation and pay the hypothecary sum, which amounts 5000 EUR.

Print media (press) (hereinafter referred to in the present part – mass media) are periodicals and such issues, which are prolonged, issues, which are published under the constant name with the periodicity of one and more publications (issues) during a year on the basis of the certificate about the state registration.

Thus, according to part 2 of article 11 of the Law of Ukraine “On print media (press) in Ukraine” the state registration should cover all the print media, issued on the territory of Ukraine, irrespective the sphere of distribution and method of their production.

Information agencies (hereinafter referred to in the present part – inform-agencies) are registered legal entities, subjects of the informational activity, operating with the purpose of rendering information services. The activity of the information agencies includes the gathering, processing, creating, keeping, preparing the information for the distribution, issuing and distributing the information products. The state registration should also cover all inform-agencies and representatives of inform-agencies, which are founded and operate in Ukraine.

Logo is the face of the trade mark or even the whole company. Its designing as a rule marks the start of the new stage in the company development – work over the corporate style, selection of corporate colours, original distinguishing graphical elements, types. The successful logo can promote not only fruitful promotion of the trade mark. It is also able to have a substantial impact over the positive image of the company in general.

The logo designing is a complicated creative process. It requires the efficient interaction with the client. Specialists of other Agency will not only perform the preliminary search of the verbal part of your trade mark they also will be able to design a logo and register a trade mark after that. Thus, we can render you a full set of services.

Specialists of our Agency render a wide range of informational and consultation services in the sphere of the intellectual property. Such services can concern both matters of registering objects of the intellectual property and matters, connected with the protection of rights to the given objects. Moreover, the matters of protecting rights to the intellectual property become more and more topical.

The most matters are clarified by our employees to our clients directly in the process of the registering the objects of the intellectual property or during the performance of preliminary consultations.

There are also paid consultations. By the client’s wish, they can be either written or verbal (for example, the clarification of this or that legal matter). To cooperate with our specialists in this sphere you should prepare the list of matters, you are interested in, and send them to us by e-mail beforehand. We will analyze the received information, assess the volume of planned works and inform you about the terms of the works execution and their cost. We will be glad to cooperate with you in this sphere.