Automotive Company Branding

If your company has corporate vehicles, you have probably considered branding the car, i.e., placing images or inscriptions on it that would identify and distinguish your company, or the products or services you produce.

What should you pay attention to before ordering the relevant stickers and placing them on the car?

First of all, you need to pay attention to intellectual property rights.

TM

If you have a trademark for goods and services (TM) registered to your company, then there is certainly nothing to worry about. However, if you represent the interests of other partner companies/organizations or founders who have a registered TM, your company must officially obtain the rights to use the registered TM according to a License Agreement.

Commercial Name

The intellectual property right to a commercial name, or legal protection, is granted to a commercial name if it allows distinguishing one person from others and does not mislead consumers regarding their actual activity. A commercial name arises from the moment of its first use, which can in fact be identical to the company's registration (for legal entities), and does not require any mandatory registration, like a trademark. Therefore, you can safely display the company's commercial name on the company car.

Secondly, it is necessary to analyze whether the car sticker violates advertising legislation.

According to paragraph 12 of Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine "On Advertising", advertising on transport means advertising placed on the territory of public transport enterprises, the subway, and the external and internal surfaces of vehicles and structures of public transport enterprises and the subway.

Is official approval from any authorities required for placing advertising on a car?

Part 1 of Article 18 of the Law on Advertising stipulates that the placement of advertising on transport only needs to be approved by the owners of transport objects or their authorized bodies (persons). Interference with the form and content of advertising on the car is prohibited, and only the fact of placing advertising on the car is subject to approval.

That is, if your company owns the car, then you do not need to coordinate the placement of advertising with anyone. If you use leased cars, you must agree on its placement with the owner of the leased cars.

Special requirements for the content of advertising (stickers) on cars

Part 2 of Article 18 of the Law on Advertising stipulates the need to comply with safety requirements and traffic rules when placing advertising on a car.

At the same time, the law prohibits placing the following advertising on cars:

• advertising that repeats or imitates the color-graphic schemes of special and operational vehicles
• advertising with the application of retroreflective materials
• advertising accompanied by sound or light signals
• placing advertising on glass (transparent) surfaces of vehicles, except when materials are used that provide an unobstructed view from inside the vehicle.

If car stickers contain alcohol advertising, according to Part 2 of Article 22 of the Law on Advertising, advertising of alcohol and trademarks for goods and services under which alcohol is produced is prohibited on the external and internal surfaces of public transport vehicles and the subway. If car branding by placing advertisements for alcoholic beverages is carried out on a private car belonging to the company, no direct prohibition on advertising alcoholic beverages through branding on private cars is established in the legislation. However, we draw your attention to the fact that it is mandatory to place the warning "Excessive consumption of alcohol is harmful to your health", which must occupy at least 15 percent of the area (volume) of the entire advertisement and be written in black on a white background (Part 7 of Article 22 of the Law on Advertising).

Can law enforcement agencies or police authorities demand any documents regarding the placement of advertising on vehicles when stopping a car?

If all safety requirements and traffic rules are observed when placing advertising on your car, then Part 3 of Article 18 of the Law on Advertising clearly prohibits demanding any permits, approvals, or other documents regarding the placement of advertising from vehicle owners. Therefore, no one has the right to demand any approvals from you for advertising placed on a car.