NOVELTY, DISTINCTIVENESS, LAWFULNESS
Novelty
Absence of an identical or similar sign to distinguish identical or similar goods and/or services in the same class. Before registering a trademark, or more generally using a name for commercial purposes, it is very important to carry out a search among existing trademarks to verify that the mark you have chosen is not already the subject of protection. Duly registered intellectual property attorneys know the legislation in depth, they have access to worldwide paid databases and also investigate similarities with other trademarks from all points of view (visual, phonetic, conceptual…). The UIBM does not carry out any searches among existing trademarks at the time of verification prior to publication. Failure to analyse earlier trademarks could also lead to a claim for damages from the owners of earlier trademarks or, for example, to obtain a weaker or even non-enforceable mark.
Distinctiveness
Ability to distinguish a good or service from that of others: since the main objective of the trademark is to guarantee its association to you or your firm, it is appropriate to use names that do not have any descriptive character in relation to the activities carried out. A trademark cannot be limited to words that only indicate the type of service or good to which they refer or characteristics of it, for example it is not possible to register the trademark “Excellent outdoor swimming school in Turin” for an activity that is a swimming school in Turin.
Lawfulness
You cannot register trademarks that may offend public decency or be contrary to public order.