what’s wrong with the new names of old stores?

Clothing stores of Western brands familiar to Russians are changing signs. It would seem that the problem of circumventing sanctions has been solved. But not everything is as simple with rebranding as it seems at first glance. Andrey Ionochkin, General Director of the BRANDKEY branding agency, tells us what difficulties you may encounter when registering a name verbally, as well as the intricacies and nuances of naming.

Experts’ disputes about whether Western brands will leave us or not, lose 10-12% of their share in the mass segment that falls on the Russian market, or find a solution to the problem, seem to have come to an end. An alternative to the withdrawal of Western brands from the Russian market was brand substitution.

So, since the middle of this summer, the stores of the Polish retailer LPP have been welcoming visitors with new signs. The clothes remained the same, but the names became shorter. Reserved became RE, Cropp became Cr, Mohito became M, House became XC, and Sinsay became Sin. The short names were presented by the successor, the owner of LPP stores in Russia, the Chinese company FES retail. The new owner of the Levi’s store in Moscow acted similarly and succinctly – the trading floor was opened under the JNS brand.

Brevity is the sister of talent, but, alas, has no relatives in the field of law. Therefore, the renaming raises questions. The fact is that the brand has no chance of verbal registration of a name consisting of three, two, and even more so one letter. Nothing is known about concessions in this area; the law does not make an exception for import substitution.

Names like RE are even more difficult to register – this is a direct association and part of the name of another well-known brand, re:Store, the largest chain of Apple stores and service centers. What is the hidden logic of renaming, what is the strategy here? Maybe this is an intermediate solution, with an attempt to register a graphic, a logo without a word designation? Wait and see.

Recently, Zara fans were pleased with the news about the return of the Spanish brand. The new owner promises to open stores in the spring of 2023. On the signs, presumably, we will see the name New Fashion. And despite the fact that the naming does not consist of two letters, but of two words, there are still questions about its protectability. The fact is that this phrase is included in several registered brand names, for example: Remix of new fashion (application No. 2019719565) and New Grand Fashion (application No. 2019705172). In addition, the word fashion is descriptive for the category of clothing, so it is not subject to registration as part of the trademark name for clothing and footwear. That is, it is obvious that there are again many questions about the legal aspects of the new naming.

Meanwhile, the formed niches in the fashion market are beginning to be occupied by Russian companies. The trend for Russian stylish clothes is gaining momentum, and this is due not only to the political situation. Sales of our brands went uphill even during the pandemic, which disrupted supply chains in foreign supplies. So, reliable for the rise of the domestic fashion industry is far from unfounded.

The only thing I would like to warn Russian manufacturers against the use of unprotected names. The costs of checking a potential name and registering it (in total, this is 50-70 thousand rubles for a trademark registration certificate that is valid for 10 years) are not comparable to the fines that you will have to pay if it turns out that you use naming, rights which belong to another owner.

In addition, as already mentioned, the law prohibits the registration of names that are descriptive in their category. And one more thing to consider: the shorter the name, the higher the likelihood that it is either part of a longer verbal designation, or identical to an existing trademark, or confusingly similar to it. Therefore, any options consisting of only two or three letters need especially careful detailed verification before submitting them for registration. And even more so, before investing in promotion.

Alena Bodrienko.

Photo by mobile reporter / Moskva Agency