Trademark Assignment & Transfer
Just as a land owner and other physical property owner sell his property to others, a trademark owner also has the right to sell and transfer his trademark to others. A possible way of transferring and selling the trademark is trademark assignment.
Trademark Assignment And Transfer Procedure in Rajasthan defines transferring the rights, interests, and benefits of the owner and changing the trademark ownership to another person. The party transferring is call the assignor, and the party receiving is call the assignee. Register and unregister trademarks both can assign.
What is Trademark Assignment And Transfer?
The process of transferring and selling the legal rights, benefits, and interests of trademark owners and ownership of a trademark to another person is called trademark assignment. It is a process of transfer of a trademark to another party. It is controlled under section 37 of the Trademark Act, of 1999.
The transfer of a trademark between two persons is carried out by deeds and agreements. Stamp duty is an important element in the process of trademark assignment. It makes trademark assignment acceptable. It is a tax imposed by the government. Without stamp duty, documents are not legally valid.
Types of Trademark Assignment And Transfer
Partial Assignment:
A partial agreement occurs when the agreement allows a certain portion of the legal rights to use the trademark. This means that the trademark owner transfers only a certain part of the ownership of goods and services.
Complete Assignment:
In the complete assignment, the owner of the registered trademark transfers his all legal rights, benefits, and interests to the assignee. the assignor will lose ownership and the assignee will own the trademark.
Assignment with the goodwill of the business:
The trademark owner transfers all his legal rights and value of the trademark to the purchasing party, in the Assignment with the goodwill of the business.
Assignment without the goodwill of the business:
The owner of a trademark may restrict the buyer’s rights when transferring the trademark, In the assignment without the goodwill of the business. Here the assignor prevents the buyer from using the brand of the product that is already being use by the owner. This means that the goodwill associate with the brand is not transfer to the assignee.
Pre-requisites for Trademark Assignment:
- Trademark assignments should be in writing.
- The assignment must take place between two parties, the assignor (owner of the trademark) and the assignee (purchaser of the trademark).
- The assignor must have both the intention and consent for the trademark assignment.
- The trademark assignment must be for a reasonable substantial amount.
Who Can Assign a Trademark?
The owner of a trademark has the right to assign his trademark to someone else. The owner has an option to assign the part of the trademark to another person, such as to use the rights in a particular region.
Trademark Assignment Agreement
It is a legal document that covers all terms and conditions of transferring the trademark from one to another.
- The name, address, and other information of both parties should mention in the agreement.
- The registration number and description of goods and services must mention in the agreement.
- The exchange amount or value of the assigned trademark should state in the agreement.
- The date when the trademark is assigned to the other party must mention in the agreement.
- The agreement should specify the procedure for resolving disputes between the parties.
- The agreement must sign by both parties.
Benefits of Trademark Assignment
To resolve the objections raise by the trademark examiner, the applicant is require to respond within 30 days from the date of objection.
Trademark Journal Publication
After the resolution of the objections, the application is publish in the Trademark Journal. This is an opportunity for the public to file an opposition during this period if they have any objection to the registration of the applied trademark. If no opposition is file, the applicant’s trademark is register.
Third-Party Opposition
If a trademark application is oppose by a third party, the trademark hearing officer calls both parties for a hearing to resolve the concerns raised by the opposing parties through negotiation, compromise, or legal proceedings. Where both parties are allow to attend the hearing and provide justifications, arguments, and supporting documents for their side.
Trademark Registration
If there are no complaints or aversion to the trademark application, his Trademark registration is a success. After that, the trademark owner gets exclusive legal rights to trademark use. And the applicant can also use the ® symbol with his brand logo.
Trademark Renewal
A trademark registration certificate is valid for 10 years only. It can be renew indefinitely. Trademark renewal is necessary for trademark owners to retain their legal rights.