Client
Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, a charitable organization
Legal Support Area
Ukrainian and international intellectual property law: registration of a color combination (trade dress) as a trademark.
Project Summary
In September 2024, Polikarpov Law Firm successfully secured a trademark certificate for a color combination consisting of yellow, grey, and black on behalf of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. The trademark covers a broad range of goods and services related to the Foundation’s charitable and humanitarian activities.
Client’s Goal
(a) Protect the Foundation’s brand colors from unauthorized use in social initiatives by third parties.
(b) Ensure authenticity and safety of goods distributed as part of humanitarian aid programs.
(c) Safeguard public recognition and reinforce trust in the Foundation’s mission.
Project Complexity
(a) Extensive evidence review: The team analyzed and organized a large volume of promotional and visual materials demonstrating consistent color use.
(b) Proving acquired distinctiveness: Registering an abstract color combination required clear evidence that the colors had become strongly associated with the Foundation.
(c) Tailoring the goods and services list: It was crucial to reflect the full scope of activities while maintaining legal precision.
(d) Avoiding office actions: The goal was to complete the registration without additional queries from the Ukrainian IP Office (UKRNOIVI).
Actions by Polikarpov Law Firm
Strategy development: Designed a legal roadmap to demonstrate acquired distinctiveness through continuous and widespread use.
Evidence collection: Compiled and categorized over 100 samples of marketing materials, packaging, and media publications from 2013–2024.
Legal drafting: Prepared a detailed legal justification for the registrability of a color combination for charitable use.
Filing: Drafted and submitted the application with a precisely selected list of classes under the Nice Classification.
Interaction with UKRNOIVI: Due to the strength of the evidence, the application was registered without any office actions or objections.
Legal Team
Anton Polikarpov — led the strategic direction of the project and advised the client.
Anastasiia Shevchuk — conducted the evidence analysis, drafted the specification, and managed the registration process.
Result
Certificate No. …/2024 for the yellow, grey, and black color combination was issued in September 2024.
The Foundation gained exclusive rights to use its brand colors in charitable and humanitarian contexts.
The risk of counterfeiting and unauthorized imitation of the Foundation’s visual identity was significantly reduced.
This registration became one of the first successful cases in Ukraine where a charitable organization registered a color combination as a trademark — a notable achievement confirming Polikarpov Law Firm’s expertise in complex and non-standard IP matters.
