Table of Contents
- What is a trademark?
- What can be a trademark?
- How do you register a trademark?
- Who can register a trademark in Poland?
- What does trademark registration offer?
- How can we help you with trademark registration in Poland?
- What do you receive within our service of trademark registration in Poland?
What is a trademark?
A trademark can be any sign which identifies the goods or services of a given enterprise. However, in order to be eligible for registration, a trademark must be distinctive. To put it as simply as possible, it is NOT possible register a trademark in Poland whose content reflects the goods or services for which the mark is designed. Trade mark cannot be also descriptive, i.e. it cannot describe the goods and/or services that you offer.
What can be a trademark?
Any sign can be a trademark. But what specifically?
For example, it may be a word, an image, a graphic combined with a word, a sound or a short video. There are even cases of registering a color as a trademark (example).
The way the sign presents influences what type of mark you will register. Most often, as trademarks, the company logos (as figurative trademarks) or company names (as word trademarks) are registered.
How do you register a trademark?
The registration of a trademark requires to file an application to the relevant office. In Poland, such an office is the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland (UPRP). The registration of a trademark with the UPRP provides legal protection in Poland.
It is also possible to register a trademark within the European Union. In this case, the application should be filed with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). The legal protection works throughout the territory of EU.
Who can register a trademark in Poland?
Anyone. There are no restrictions in the law – a natural person as well as a legal entity can register a trademark. It is not necessary to run a business to register a trademark. An association can alsoregister a trademark.
The country of origin of the applicant is irrelevant – a trademark can also be registered in Poland and within the European Union by a person or entity from outside the EU.
Trademarks are most often registered by companies (entrepreneurs – both natural persons and commercial companies). Why?
What does trademark registration offer?
Registering a trademark offers real benefits. What are they?
First of all, a monopoly on the use of a given sign in the course of business. With a registered trademark, you can prohibit others from using an identical or similar sign. You have the legal means to force others to, for example, change their company name, logo or trade name. Registering a trademark makes it easier to fight against those who would like to impersonate your brand. In addition, registering a word mark can help you to obtain exclusive use of an internet domain with the same content as the word mark content.
A trademark, like any property right, is transferable. If your brand achieves a really high reputation, you can sell the trademark and simply make money from it.
A trademark can be subject to license – the owner of the trademark will then charge license fees. It is worth noting that a license can be helpful for tax optimization. For example, the shareholders of a limited liability company can register a trademark in their name and then grant the company a license to use it. The shareholders then charge license fees. In this way, the shareholder partially avoids double taxation of profit from the Polish limited liability company.
A registered trademark is also subject to depreciation. The registration of the trademark can therefore provide the company with tax deductible cost.
How can we help you with trademark registration in Poland?
Our assistance is first to assess whether your sign can be registered as a trademark at all. So firstly, we check whether the formal conditions for filing an application with relevant office are met. Next, we verify whether there is a conflict between your mark and earlier marks – that is, whether the application for your mark will not infringe the rights of others (i.e. whether someone else has not already registered a trademark identical or similar to yours). We call this stage examination of the registrability of the mark.
Depending on the results of our analysis, we provide an assessment as to the registrability of your mark, along with a possible recommendation to amend it.
Subsequently, we prepare the documents for the application to register your mark as a trademark to the office of your choice and represent you in the administrative proceedings initiated as a result of the application.
Once the decision to register the mark is issued, we provide you with a certificate of registration.
What do you receive within our service of trademark registration in Poland?
By using our help, you will therefore receive:
- A report on the registrability of the trademark;
- Preparation of the documents necessary for the registration of your trademark with the office of your choice;
- Our representation before the office of your choice – we will file the application on your behalf;
- Once you register a trademark, you will receive an official certificate of registration.
