The request “we need a logo in order to later register a trademark” has become one of our most frequent requests over the past year. And almost always behind it is the same question: will they definitely register it?
We answer honestly. The decision is made by the Rospatent expert, and neither the designer nor the patent attorney will sign for it. But most failures are predictable. You can see them even at the sketching stage, if you know where to look. An article about this: what exactly we check, how we draw and why some logos are doomed even before filing an application.
Why they no longer delay registration
Previously, a trademark was registered when the business “gets back on its feet”. In 2026, it became expensive to do this.
From January 3, compensation for violation of rights to someone else’s trademark increased to 10 million rubles, doubling the previous ceiling. Since March 1, amendments to protect the Russian language have been in effect: a name in Latin on a sign or in advertising without translation can be left only if it is registered as a trademark. Not filed, but registered. Marketplaces are also looking more and more closely at who owns the brand on the card.
The result is simple. A brand that you have not registered is not legally yours. It can be taken away by a competitor, a patent troll, or a person who simply filed an application earlier.
Why Rospatent refuses logos
There are several dozen reasons for refusal in the law, but the same ones come up with logos over and over again.
Confusingly similar. The main reason for failures. The expert compares your mark with those already registered and filed earlier, and only within the same or similar goods and services. A complete match is not necessary, just enough so that the buyer can get confused. They compare according to three criteria: what the sign looks like, what it sounds like, and what it means. Therefore, "Fox" and "Fox" with a similar red muzzle may well turn out to be similar, although the letters are different.
No distinctiveness. Simple geometry, one letter in a regular font, circle, square. The expert decides that such a sign is not capable of distinguishing your product from someone else’s, and refuses. Nearby there are industry clichés: a tooth for dentistry, a leaf for eco-products, a crown for everything “premium”, a cup of steam for a coffee shop. They are not prohibited in themselves. But there are thousands of them in the database, and a design based only on such a cliche will almost inevitably turn out to be similar to something.
Descriptive and false elements. The word “pizza” with a slice of pizza on the pizzeria logo will not receive protection, it will be made an unprotected element. And the expert may consider “farm” for products that have nothing to do with the farm to be misleading.
State symbols. Coats of arms, flags, orders and everything that is noticeably similar to them. A double-headed eagle “for the sake of respectability” is a bad idea.
Other people's works. If the logo is made from a stock icon or repeats a famous picture, it has an author. A mark that coincides with someone else’s object of copyright will not be registered without the consent of the copyright holder, and one that has already been registered can be challenged. This is where logos “for 500 rubles” are displayed, assembled from ready-made icons in an online constructor.
The name is checked separately from the picture
The most unpleasant thing is that we explain to clients: a beautiful unique design will not save if the name conflicts.
In a combined sign where there is both a word and graphics, the expert usually looks first at the verbal part. It is this that the buyer pronounces, remembers and enters into the search. If your class already has a "Little Fox" registered, your "Little Fox" with a completely different fox will most likely not be accepted.
So we start not with sketches, but with a question: have you checked the name yet? If not, look at the open FIPS registers at the very beginning. Sometimes this check saves the client the entire budget, because drawing a logo for a busy name is pointless.
A separate story with surnames. A common surname, typed in regular font, may be considered by an expert to be simply a surname, and not a sign of a specific manufacturer. In the fall of 2025, the Intellectual Property Rights Court upheld the refusal of an entrepreneur who wanted to register “Wolves” as a separate word. At the same time, combined marks with the same surname and other elements were registered with him earlier. The graphics here work precisely for distinctiveness.
How we make a logo for registration
We start with the list of goods and services
Protection and comparison with senior marks are based on the classes of the International Classification of Goods and Services, the international classifier of goods and services. A coffee shop and a leather bag workshop can live with similar logos without any conflict, but two coffee shops no longer exist.
That's why during the brief we ask not only about taste and references, but also about what you sell now and what you plan in two to three years. It depends on this which signs the expert will compare with.
Look at what is already registered in your classes
Before the first sketch, we go through the registers and write down techniques that are repeated in dozens of signs in your niche. This is our visual reconnaissance. We consciously avoid everything that appears frequently there, even if the client likes it.
Draw from scratch
No stock, templates or ready-made icons. A neural network can be useful to quickly give directions, but the sign is drawn by hand in a vector. The reason is practical: the models learned from other people’s logos and easily produce something very similar to an existing sign, and the authorship of the generated image in Russia is not legally determined.
We usually make the font part using our own lettering or seriously rework the font. The name typed Montserrat will look like hundreds of others in the Rospatent database. Your own drawing of the letters gives the sign character and makes it truly yours.
We check the final options again
When two or three finalists remain, we check them again: by the verbal part, by visual elements and by reverse image search in Yandex and Google. The latter is necessary so that a similar sign does not come up for someone who did not register it, but drew it before you.
Preparing files for the application
Submit the sign in vector, color and black and white, plus an image for the application. There is a nuance here that is worth discussing with a patent attorney: submitting the mark in color or black and white. Black and white registration usually provides broader protection, without being tied to a specific palette. It makes sense to choose a colored one if color is the main difference between the brand.
We transfer exclusive rights
The point that is most often forgotten. Until the rights are transferred in writing, the designer remains the author and copyright holder of the drawing. A trademark based on someone else's work can be challenged, and this may come up a few years later, when the brand is already worth something. We transfer exclusive rights under the alienation agreement along with the files.
If you already have a name and it is clear what you do, write to us. Before starting the design, let's look at what is registered in your classes, and tell us right away if we see a problem.
Example: logo from the surname
The ISILYAEV brand makes leather accessories. Now these are covers for documents, further plans include bags and backpacks. The name is the surname of the founder, and registering it with an ordinary word was risky for exactly the reason described above.
We made the logo-inscription entirely in our own lettering, and combined the two letters from the middle of the surname, I and L, into a monogram. It can be placed on the product separately: by embossing on the leather or engraving on the fittings, where the entire name simply does not fit. The palette was taken according to the material, brown, almost black and light.
As a result, the sign appeared with graphics that cannot be confused with another surname in the usual set, and a separate element that the brand can use and, if desired, protect on its own. This project is discussed in detail in a separate case.
What we guarantee and what we don’t
You've probably seen the "100% Registration Guarantee" promise. We don’t write like that, and here’s why.
The expert evaluates the similarity subjectively, the databases are updated every day, and new applications do not appear in the public domain instantly. Someone else’s application submitted a week before yours will turn out to be older, and it is impossible to check it in advance. Anyone who guarantees registration one hundred percent either does not understand the procedure, or expects that in a year, when the answer comes from Rospatent, you will forget about this guarantee.
We can guarantee what depends on us:
the logo is drawn from scratch for you, without stock, templates or others elements;
before submission it is checked against registered and filed marks in your classes;
files are prepared for an application to Rospatent;
exclusive rights are transferred to you by agreement.
So the risks on the design side are closed. The rest is a correct list of goods and services, answers to the expert's requests are the work of a patent attorney, and we would not recommend saving on it.
Time limits
Logo and corporate identity - from 5 days, brand book - from a week. The registration itself with Rospatent is separate and takes about a year; fees start at about 35 thousand rubles. More details about money, deadlines and submission procedure are in part two.
Frequently asked questions
Can I register a logo without a name? Yes, as a figurative sign. But a brand is remembered and searched for by its name, so the word is usually registered too, separately or as part of a combined mark.
Can a logo be used before registration? Yes. The exclusive right arises with registration, and priority is considered from the date of filing the application. The ® sign is placed only after the mark is registered.
Is it possible to register a logo made in a neural network? There is no direct prohibition. But the authorship of generated images is not regulated in Russia, and the risk of similarity to existing marks is noticeably higher.
Who can become the owner of a trademark? Legal entity, individual entrepreneur, and from 2023, self-employed. An ordinary individual without status - no.
If Rospatent refuses, will the logo have to be thrown away? Not necessarily. You can respond to the expert’s notification within six months: narrow the list of goods, obtain a letter of consent from the owner of a similar mark, or prove that there is no similarity.
We make logos, corporate identity and brand books, including for trademark registration. Send us the name, scope and a few words about the task - let's say where to start and how long it will take.
