Frequently asked questions about company names and trademarks
Frequently asked questions about company names and trademarks
You can use the service Help choosing a company name (Hjälp att välja företagsnamn). There you can check whether the name is taken or can be confused with another registered name.
When you registered your company with the Swedish Companies Registration Office, you also receive name protection. The extent of the protection varies depending on the type of business you have chosen.
- Sole trader: protection in the county where the company is registered.
- Trading companies and limited partnerships: protection in the county where the company is registered.
- Limited company: protection throughout Sweden.
- Economic association: protection throughout Sweden.
- Tenant-owner association: protection in the county where the association is registered.
- Non-profit association: protection in the county where the association is registered.
- Branch: protection throughout Sweden.
To protect your brand or logo, contact the Swedish Intellectual Property Office, PRV.
A trademark is a characteristic of a specific good or service that distinguishes it from the goods or services of other businesses. It creates recognition among customers.
It is not solely logotypes that can be registered as trademarks - there is a wide variety of marks and you can even register sound marks, motion marks, multimedia marks or holograms. A trademark registration gives you exclusive rights: none else has the right to use the trademark for similar goods or services or in their marketing.
Use the search function in the Swedish Trademark Database that holds all registered trademarks in Sweden. See if what you would like to protect is available. You can list possible competitors within the same line of business.
Swedish Trademark Database at the Swedish Intellectual Property Office (PRV)
When you apply for protection of your trademark you need to state which goods and/or services you will be using the trademark for. That way trademarks that have the same name co-exist without any trademark infringement. An example of this is the word Snickers - a well known trademark for both work trousers and chocolate, but with two different owners.
The trademark must not consist of only a word that is descriptive of your goods and services. Everyone who trades in coffee has the right to use words as "dark roast" and "medium-coarse grind" in their marketing.
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