What many people don’t realise is that when your business grows so does the financial value of your trade mark. As well as this a trade mark can bring your brand an indication of quality and reputation to customers.
You may find that larger corporations have a vast library of trade marks and intellectual property. As a result, if the company owner was to sell on, the new owner would not only be buying the company assets but also the intellectual property that comes with this. This brings with it, reputation and customer attraction.
Therefore, if you own a business and you are looking to sell it or just looking to sell a trade mark that you know longer need, you should to be aware of the steps you need to take.
To sell your trade mark you need to complete an assignment.
An assignment is a complete transfer of ownership of the mark from yourself to another party. You will no longer have any attachment to the mark. Here at the Trademarkroom we can complete this for you.
To do this successfully there are a number of requirements to satisfy. These are outlined in Sec. 24 Trade Mark Act.
For any assignment to be binding on a third party, it needs to fulfil some formalities. These entail that the assignment must be in writing and has to be signed by both parties.
In addition, notification does need to be submitted to the UK Intellectual Property Office so they can lodge the change in ownership.
What many people do not realise is that the complete mark does not need to be transferred in an assignment, it can be only part of the mark. For example, if you have a mark registered for a number of classes of goods or services, you can assign the mark for a select few of these to another if you do not use them. Also you could authorise a party to use your complete mark but only in certain geographical locations.
If you have any questions on change of ownership or would like to learn more about trade marks- contact us at the Trademarkroom today.
Anna Orchard
