PSD President Sorin Grindeanu and the party’s general secretary, Claudiu Manda, have filed applications with the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks to register their names as trademarks.
The requests were submitted on April 28 and are still under review, according to publicly available data consulted by Profit.ro.
Both PSD leaders have requested the registration of strictly verbal trademarks, without any associated graphic elements or logos.
According to the documents filed with OSIM, the trademarks are intended to cover various categories of products and services, from stationery and printed materials to advertising services, marketing, event organization, political consultancy, speechwriting, electoral campaigns, and legal services.
In both cases, the applications target six classes of products and services.
What Manda says
Claudiu Manda stated that registering a trademark at OSIM is "a regular administrative procedure, also used for political communication and electoral campaigns."
"For certain types of official communications through telecommunications operators, promotional materials, or online campaigns, it is necessary to protect and legally use the name. Additionally, if you access the claudiumanda.ro website, you can see that it currently displays content associated with gambling, which is why the actions taken are also related to clarifying and recovering this domain," explained the PSD general secretary to News.ro.
How the procedure works at OSIM
According to OSIM, a verbal trademark protects a name or a written slogan using standard characters, without a distinct visual component.
To register a trademark, a specific form must be submitted, and several fees paid: 51 lei for filing the application and an additional 152 lei for publishing a black-and-white trademark or 508 lei for a color trademark.
After the request is published, there is a two-month period during which observations or oppositions can be made.
Subsequently, OSIM reviews the application and decides whether the trademark is accepted or rejected. If approved and all necessary fees are paid, the trademark is entered into the official register and receives protection within Romania.
A registered trademark is valid for 10 years and can be successively renewed for additional 10-year periods.