The anti-governmental EuroMaidan movement is not only about protests. It’s about business and image as well.
Several politicians and civic activists have applied to register the
word “Maidan” as part of a private brand, according to the Ukrainian Institute
of Industrial Property, which keeps track of local brands and trademarks.
On Dec. 3, Volodymyr Kompaniets, one of the organizers of Student EuroMaidan,
applied to register “EuroMaidan” as a trademark.
Several weeks later, on Dec. 30, lawyers representing opposition leader Vitali
Klitschko did the same. Klitshcko also wants to own “Union Maidan” brand.
Pavlo Petrenko, a member of imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Yulia
Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna faction in parliament, submitted documents for
registering “All-Ukrainian Union Maidan” and “Union Maidan.”
Petrenko said the registration process would help to prevent any cloning
of the name “for provocative purposes” by, say, EuroMaidan opponents.
“Currently the organization is
officially registered and (singer/activist) Ruslana Lyzhychko is in charge,”
Petrenko said.
Oleksandr Rzhavskyi, a former member of parliament and candidate for
president in 2004, registered “Civic Movement Narodnyi Maidan.” He told the
Kyiv Post that he plans to use
this name in the group’s actions and publicity.
Several lesser-known activists have
followed suit.
The word is in the public domain, so
it’s unclear if ownership of the Maidan brand will have political and business
implications if it becomes a registered brand. The word has come to symbolize Ukrainian
revolutions and may be a campaign slogan in future elections.
Whoever owns the Maidan brand may be
able to produce consumer goods under the name, giving the person a competitive
advantage in parliament.
“The majority of original words,
especially new ones, may be registered as trademarks. If you own a trademark,
you may prohibit the use of it without your permission,” explained lawyer
Markiyan Galabala.
All these brands have yet to be registered,
according to the Ukrainian Institute of Industrial Property database. The regulator gets to
decide among competing applications to register the same trademark.
The same happened during the 2004
Orange Revolution, which prevented Viktor Yanukovych from becoming president in
a fraudulent election.
Several activists applied for
registering the Maidan trademark, but it didn’t appear to bring any of them political or business success. The same could be true for this round of
applicants.
Kyiv Post staff writer Iryna
Yeroshko can be reached at [email protected].
