Trademark Assignment

A trademark assignment refers to the transfer of ownership of a trademark from one party to another. The transferring party (assignor) handovers all the trademark property rightsto the receiving party (assignee). Following the assignment of a trademark, the assignee becomes the administrator of the trademark.

Prerequisites for a valid trademark assignment:

To become valid, a trademark assignment must:

1. Be given for deliberation, or else prepared under seal
2. Clearly, determine the marks
3. Noticeablyrecognize the assignor and assignee
4. Specify that friendliness is included if it is. This is important because, under the Trademarks Act, a trademark can be transferable and communicable with or without the goodwill of the business concerned.

There are various ways through which a trademark assignment can take place.

• Complete Assignment - When the trademark and its privileges such as authority to further transfer, royalties, etc., are legally relocated to another party, it is known as complete assignment of trademark.
• Partial Assignment – The transfer of ownership is limited to certain products or services only and the trademark owner carries the right to transfer the trademark further and receive its royalties. For instance, a company A with brands X, Y and Z, transfers the right of brand X to another company B and holds the power to transfer the brand B and C – it is called partial assignment.
• Assignment using goodwill – This is the case when the trademark owner transfers the rights and royalties of the trademark associated with, while selling the product or service it owns.
• Assignment without goodwill – When the owner of the trademark confinesanother party to use the trademark for the products he uses it for, denotes that the goodwill linked with the product or service sold by the owner is not reassigned to the new owner. Therefore, the trademark in this situation can be employed by both the seller and the buyer but in different products and services.

Benefits of Trademark Assignment

• Brand promotion – Since the trademark will already get more visibility in the market, the marketing roadmap can be rested
• No burden of evidence – The assignment of trademark will be recorded in the register and acts as a valid proof or trademark ownership
• Value and goodwill of trademark – For a trademark of high value and goodwill, it is always a good thing to own such a trademark to hold its rights with the new buyer
• Savings on time – In comparison to new trademark registration, trademark assignment takes lesser time

At Trademark Bazaar, we possess the necessary expertise and technical knowhow required to process a trademark assigner faster and effective. Discuss you trademark assignment needs with our expert consultants today.