Rare Types of Trademarks and Features of Their Registration

As stated in Article 1482 of the Civil Code, verbal, pictorial, three-dimensional and other designations or their combinations may be registered as trademarks.

Trademarks can be divided into several types, namely: standard and rare. Standard trademarks, which are most often encountered in practice, include such as verbal, pictorial, and combined. Applications for such trademarks are submitted to Rospatent daily. There are also trademarks that, due to their specificity, can be called rare or unusual - such trademarks have certain features in registration.

What is a rare trademark? This category includes trademarks such as: volumetric, color, sound, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, light, multimedia, positional, holographic.

• Three-dimensional trademarks

A three-dimensional trademark represents the product itself – its original form or its original packaging. Three-dimensional trademarks make it possible to reflect the individuality of a product or packaging. Bottles, flasks, boxes, etc. are usually registered as such signs. For example, the following are registered as three-dimensional trademarks: a bottle of cologne (certificate no. 251144), a box of tea (certificate no. 1016119), a bottle of vodka (certificate no. 456131), Tula gingerbread (certificate no. 502680), a box of candies (certificate no. 600443), a package of coffee (certificate no. 522540), a Raffaello candy (certificate no. 383705 ) and others.

• Color Trademarks

The specificity of registering such trademarks is that a specific color must have a clear association with the company that wants to register it. To register such marks, sociological surveys are conducted, which allow demonstrating that consumers associate the declared color with a specific company, which in turn intensively uses this color in its business activities. Such trademarks must indicate the generally recognized Pantone color code.

Examples of color trademarks: a combination of purple and green – the corporate colors of Megafon (certificate no. 696846), green – Sberbank (certificate no. 556088), red – MTS mobile operator (certificate no. 560598), etc.

• Sound Trademarks

Sound trademarks include musical sounds, musical works, fragments of music, original melodies that allow identifying the goods or services of the copyright holder. An audio file on a digital medium must be attached to the application. For example, Mars, Incorporated registered a sound mark representing a cat's purring (cert. No. 262372). Russian Railways registered a sound mark representing a greeting melody (cert. No. 428463). MasterCard has registered a sound trademark that represents a melody performed using a synthesizer, the sound of which resembles the sound of a xylophone (certificate No. 783597). Sound trademarks have been registered by Yandex Taxi (certificate No. 966134, 964572). In the open registers of Rospatent, in addition to the verbal description of the sound, there is also a function for listening to an audio file, which is a registered sound mark.

• Olfactory Trademarks

An olfactory trademark is a unique aroma that is associated with a specific company - the applicant. The application materials must include the chemical formula of the compound that has this aroma, a description of the composition and a sample with the aroma.

• Flavor Trademarks

A taste trademark represents a certain taste of a product that has unique characteristics that distinguish it from others. The application must include a detailed description of the taste and its characteristics, describe the composition, formula of the chemical compound in order to obtain a clear description of the taste qualities of such a mark. To date, there is no information on registered taste marks, which may demonstrate a certain complexity in their registration.

• Tactile Trademarks

Tactile trademarks are intended for tactile perception and can be made, for example, in the form of a raised dot font for visually impaired people (Braille font). In Russia, one tactile trademark was registered for the Non-Commercial Organization Mutual Aid Fund for the Blind and Visually Impaired with an Active Life Position (cert.№ 462927), and this mark has now ceased to be valid due to the fact that the term of its legal protection has not been extended.

• Light Trademarks

Light trademarks are marks in which light is individualizing for highlighting the goods and services of a specific manufacturer. Such a mark represents light effects, a combination and dynamics of light signals, etc. The application should indicate the characteristics of the light signals, their sequence and describe the features. Such marks are usually used in advertising signs, on banners. An example of a registered light mark is the movement of light reflections, which is registered to Microsoft Corporation (certificate No. 345836). Currently, this mark has ceased to be valid due to the fact that the term of its legal protection has not been extended.

• Multimedia Trademarks

Multimedia trademarks are also called moving, since they represent a dynamic image. When filing an application, it is necessary to describe the process of changing the trademark, in what sequence the color, images, etc. change, you can also make a storyboard to clearly show how the sign changes step by step.

An example of a multimedia mark is the Yandex trademark (cert. № 526621), which reflects the level of traffic congestion depending on the color of the indicator. The Mosfilm company also has a multimedia mark (cert. № 495198), which is an animated screensaver with an image of the sculpture "Worker and Kolkhoz Woman". The Phoenix-Film film company also registered a trademark that shows the transformation of a phoenix into the letter F (cert. № 296496). At present, this mark has ceased to be valid due to the fact that the term of its legal protection has not been extended. The MMS Communications registered a multimedia trademark in the form of a drawn balloon releasing gas bubbles (certificate No. 322035). In the open registers of Rospatent, in addition to a verbal description of the change in the mark, there is also a demonstration function that presents a visual animation of the registered mark.

• Positional Trademarks

Positional trademarks are a recognizable element on a specific part of the product. Their essence lies in the placement of some element on a specific part of the product in an unchanged form, i.e. it is tied to a specific location on the product, which is indicated in the description. Positional trademarks can be registered only for the commodity classes of the International Classification of Goods and Services. As a rule, such marks are registered for clothing, footwear, cosmetics, and food products:

• the positional trademark of Johnson & Johnson, which is the phrase "Clean&Clear" applied to the image of the bottle and located in the upper third of the bottle at an equal distance from the side edges of the bottle (cert. № 486852);
• trademark of LLC "DETSKOE PITANIE", consisting of two parallel thin green lines, an image of two leaves, applied to an image of a jar with a lid, made with a dotted line (certificate No. 782472);
• trademark of the Heinz company, consisting of four rectangular edges applied to an image of a bottle, made with a dotted line (certificate No. 537658).
• Holographic Trademarks

Holographic trademarks are holograms with letter and visual images, such signs use holographic technologies to create volume effects, color changes and other visual features, i.e. these are images that change at a certain angle of view. Such signs serve as a good tool for protection against counterfeiting. A detailed description of the hologram and its visual image must be submitted with the application.

As an example, we can cite such trademarks as a trademark of the company Mixit (certificate No. 754393), which represents a hologram for checking the authenticity of cosmetic products. A trademark of the company Elite Strategical Union Limited (certificate No. 489400) and a trademark of LAR LLC (certificate No. 461300) currently have ceased to be valid due to the fact that their validity periods have not been extended.

Summarizing the above, we can note a large variety of unusual trademarks that have their own characteristics. Registration of such marks is not the easiest process, but the presence of such marks in the company's portfolio allows it to stand out from others and demonstrates uniqueness. Such trademarks allow you to protect your business in all areas, and also reflect the specifics of the company's activities.