Resolution of the Higher Commercial Court of Ukraine, dated December 22, 2015, case No. 910/20889/13. Available at http://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/54538286

A trade name is the name used by a legal entity or an individual, who is an entrepreneur, in order to distinguish themselves in the market or for their identification in business relations.

Ukrainian legislation does not require that a trade name must be identical to a corporate name of a legal entity (Article 90 of the Ukrainian Civil Code), or contain specific elements (for instance, the company type).

The following principles shall be attributable to trade names: genuineness, permanence and exclusivity. That means that use of a trade name should not be a one-time action, and that a plaintiff should be in the process of use of the trade name at the time when the plaintiff files a corresponding lawsuit with a court.

Resolution of the Higher Commercial Court of Ukraine, dated December 01, 2015, case No. 39/124. Available at http://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/53948268

Intellectual property rights to a commercial name arise at the moment of the first use of the name.

Legal protection of a trade name is not limited to the country of origin.

In their own (the author’s note: this conclusion of the court about protection in the country of origin is wider than the Paris Convention provides) and other countries (other than the state of registration of a business) legal protection shall be given to a trade name without the obligation of filing or registration, whether or not it forms a part of a trademark.

Legal protection to a trade name of a foreign company shall be given whether or not the company has a business activity namely in Ukraine.

A trade name can become known in Ukraine regardless of the factors, which caused that.

Legislation does not require that intellectual property rights to a trade name shall originate in each country separately.

What makes a trade name and whether it is known in Ukraine are questions of law, and not questions of fact. Therefore, a court, not a judicial expert, should resolve these questions.

© Yuriy Karlash, English translation, 2017

© Yuriy Karlash, compilation, 2017