The registration of trademarks in Romania is optional, and some firms learn their importance the hard way, says Nicoleta Tarchila.
Romanian small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) are in the process of becoming familiar with trademark legislation and the importance of registering trademarks for identifying goods and services. At some levels the protection of trademarks is currently not even taken into consideration when starting a business. These attitudes are not grounded in financial reasons but rather in the fact that the registration of trademarks is optional.
In order to act as a legal entity, the registration of a trade name is compulsory, and if you want to promote or put your business online purchasing a domain name is a must, but there is no obligation for firms to invest time and money in protecting their trademarks.
Most of them do not even acknowledge the role of a trademark on the market because they are using their trade names and domain names to identify their goods and especially their services. Some of these firms receive a harsh education when they are forced by their competitors to confront trademark issues.
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SMEs, trademarks, bad faith, websites, Microbest