On March 13, 2025, the regular session of the Intellectual Property Advisory Point for Exporters was held
The head of a newly established knitwear business has inquired about the possibility for a designation consisting of an abbreviation of the initial letters of the company name (“RA”) and a logo in the form of a lion to be registered as a trademark in the territory of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation.
The consultant's response was based on the applicable trademark legislation of both countries, which provides for the registration of verbal, figurative and combined designations.
In particular, pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article 1 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Trademarks and Service Marks” (hereinafter – the Law), verbal designations, including proper names, color combinations, alphabetic, numeric, figurative, volumetric designations, including the shape of goods or their packaging, as well as combinations of such designations may be registered as trademarks.
Article 1482 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation provides that... verbal, figurative, volumetric and other designations or combinations thereof may be registered as trademarks. A trademark may be registered in any color or color combination.
In the specific situation voiced by the business CEO, we are talking about a combined designation including a logo (figurative element) and an abbreviation (verbal element), which is, in principle, protectable.
At the same time, in this case the roman-type abbreviation itself (“RA”) separately from the logo is still not protectable under the legislation of both countries, as it has no signs of distinction since is not executed in a characteristic graphic manner.
Paragraph 1 of Article 4 of the Law states that the following designations may not be registered as trademarks: 1.1 that don’t have signs of distinction. The designations specified in subparagraph 1.1 of paragraph 1 of this Article may be included in a trademark as unprotected elements unless they occupy a dominant position in it.
Besides, Article 1482 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation envisages that the state registration as trademarks of the designations that don’t have signs of distinction is not allowed. These elements may be included in a trademark as unprotected elements as soon as they do not occupy a dominant position in it.
Having received a detailed explanation of the impossibility for an abbreviation used separately to obtain legal protection as a trademark, the head of the company decided to register a combined trademark in the form of a logo with the full company name consisting of two words behind it. This option is preferable because the word combination forming a significant part of the company name is protectable even by itself, as soon as it is not identical or confusingly similar to the senior trademarks of other entities in respect of homogeneous goods and (or) services.
When asked by the consultant whether the pictorial part of the trademark to be registered and the verbal designation in the form of a company name had been checked for the presence of the senior trademarks owned by third parties, the applicant assured the assumed responsibility for the possible risk of refusal for the pictorial and verbal parts and therefore renounced the verification by the patent attorney.
