“Diplomat” is one of the largest language schools in the Zabaikalsky Krai. Adults and children from all over Russia study there. The school operates in online and offline formats. The director thought about registering a The language school had been trademark to protect his brand from imitators, and turned to the federal patent bureau “Zhelezno” for help .
Why register a trademark if we are already known?
The language school had been operating under the name “Diplomat” for several years. It had managed to gain recognition and authority among its students. Registering a trademark would help the school’s phone number library founders solve several more The language school had been problems:
- protect your business from copycat competitors;
- make online promotion safe;
- to participate in major projects under an officially registered name.
Difficulties in registering popular names
Of course, the word “Diplomat” is very popular in the intellectual environment. We were not surprised when during the preliminary check we found two similar designations at once – “Diplomat” and Diplomat. Both were valid in the 41st class of the Nice Classification that we needed .
What are the options, at first glance?
- Refine the sign. That is, modify it so that it becomes unique.
- Develop a new designation from scratch.
Both options involve expenses for rebranding and promotion. But outsourcing is now so ubiquitous that most importantly, the owner of the language school wanted to continue writing the history of his company under the name under which it was born. Therefore, we took a different path and decided to obtain consent for registration from the owners of the brands “Diplomat” and Diplomat.
Letter of consent – a tool for successful trademark registration
When the names are the same, and even the ICGS class coincides, these are very serious grounds for refusing registration. However, during the inspection, we carefully studied the scope of activities of the companies “interfering” with us. It turned out that we are not competitors. Therefore, we decided to use such a tool as a letter of consent.
A letter of consent is a document in which the owner of a registered trademark allows another person to register a similar designation. This is a confirmation for Rospatent: the owner of the mark does not mind that another business will register a similar brand. If the right holder gives consent, then he will not be able to revoke it in the future.
It is worth saying that the success of obtaining a letter of consent largely depends on the negotiator who requests consent. And also on the attitude of the one who conducts negotiations on behalf of the owner of the mark. We cannot influence the latter. But we can influence the former. Our manager called the copyright holder of the interfering usa b2b list marks and competently laid out all the arguments. As a result, we were accommodated: the copyright holder wrote a letter of consent and refused some of the services in class 41 of the International Classification of Goods and Services.
As a result, we registered a combined (word + picture) trademark “Diplomat” for our client. The school director did not have to change the name and spend money on rebranding.
The process of registering a trademark can hide many pitfalls. That is why I recommend going through this process hand in hand with an expert. For example, with the Federal Patent Bureau “Zhelezno” . We will check your trademark for registration free of charge and select the classes of the International Classification of Goods and Services . The official registration period of Rospatent is 18.5 months, and with us it is 3-6 months. With the help of our specialists, 97% of brands are successfully registered. In other cases, we return the money for our services or register a new trademark for free.
