Registering a Name Without a Logo — Word Marks and the Choice of Script

Two questions come up in consultations more often than any others: "can I register just the name, without a logo?" and "which language should I file it in — Ukrainian or English?". The answer to both is "you can" — but behind that "can" sits a decision that determines how broad your protection will be, and whether you will be filing all over again in two years' time.

Can you register the name alone

Yes. It is called a word mark — a sign made of words, letters or numbers with no tie to any graphic treatment. And for most businesses it is the first and most important step of registering a trademark.

The key advantage of a word mark is that protection is not tied to the typographic treatment. You get the right to the word itself, not to a particular picture. That means you can:

• change the typeface and its size;
• recolour the name however you like;
• move it around relative to other elements;
• replace the logo entirely

— and none of it touches your rights to the name.

In practice this saves you from a very common scenario. A business registers a combined mark — the name together with the logo — commissions a rebrand three years later, and discovers the new logo falls outside the old registration. File again, wait through examination again, pay the fees again. With a word mark, redesigning the logo breaks nothing.

Three types of sign and what each actually protects

Word mark

Text only: a company name, a product name, a slogan. The broadest protection over the word itself. The cheapest to register.

Figurative mark

Graphics only: an emblem, a character, a logo without lettering, a label, the shape of packaging. Protects the specific image. Worth having if your logo is recognisable on its own, without the name beside it.

Combined mark

The name plus the image exactly as filed. Protects the composition as a whole — and is therefore the most vulnerable to a redesign: change the proportions, the typeface or the colour scheme, and the new version formally falls outside the registration.

The sensible order on a limited budget: the word mark for the name first, then a separate registration for the logo once the identity has settled. If you register only one thing, register the name — the logo will change one day, the name almost certainly will not.

Which language to register the name in

Ukrainian law places no restrictions on language or script. You can register:

• a name in Ukrainian (Cyrillic);
• a name in English or any other language (Latin);
• an invented word that exists in no language at all;
• a combination of letters and digits.

But "no restrictions" is not the same as "does not matter". The choice of script is a choice about the scope of protection, and a simple rule applies: registering Cyrillic does not protect Latin, and vice versa.

Why both scripts are worth checking

Suppose you register the name "Світанок" in Cyrillic. Formally, the rights are yours. But tomorrow a competitor appears with the mark "Svitanok" — and proving the two are the same becomes a separate fight, through a similarity examination, with an unpredictable outcome.

It works the other way round too: your Latin-script application can be refused because of a mark registered in Cyrillic, if the signs sound alike. Phonetic similarity is a ground for refusal in its own right, and switching scripts does not escape it.

That is why our search always covers both scripts at once, plus transliterations and the common spelling variants. This is not an optional extra — it is the minimum without which a risk opinion means nothing.

When both versions are worth registering

Two separate registrations cost more, but there are situations where it pays:

• you plan to enter foreign markets — build the Latin-script version into the strategy from the start, not after the first order from abroad;
• you sell on marketplaces (Amazon, Etsy) — they run on Latin script, and Brand Registry will want a matching registration;
• your name is used just as actively in both spellings — Cyrillic on the packaging, Latin in the domain and on social media.

If the business is purely local and the name only ever exists in one spelling, a single registration is enough — but search both scripts anyway.

The usual mistakes

Registering the logo and forgetting the name. The logo goes at the first rebrand; the name stays forever. The priority should almost always be the other way round.

Registering a combined mark instead of a word mark, to "protect everything at once". A combined mark gives no separate rights to the name — it protects the composition. This misunderstanding is common and expensive.

Checking only your own script. Similarity is the most frequent ground for refusal, and it regularly arrives from the spelling the applicant never looked at.

Assuming a domain or a company name already protects something. It does not. An entry in the companies register and a registered domain grant no rights over a sign — only a certificate for a mark for goods and services does.

In short

Registering the name alone is not merely possible — in most cases it is exactly where you should start. A word mark survives any redesign, and the logo can be filed separately once the identity has settled. Choose the language and script by how the name is actually used, but always search both — that is where most conflicts hide.

If you are unsure which type of sign suits your business and which spelling to file, start with a trademark search — it shows the real picture before you pay the official fees. You can price the registration for your classes in the calculator.