Sale of Trademarks

Because trademarks are items of property, they can be sold to another. The sale of a trademark, whether of a registered mark or one subject to a pending use-based application, is called an assignment and must be in writing. The written document must state that the goodwill symbolized by the mark is being assigned with the mark. An assignment that fails to assign the goodwill of the mark with the mark is ineffective to transfer trademark rights. The new ''owner'' does not capture the seller's or assignor's prior use date and begins his or her own date of use of the mark. The assignment document need not be in any special form and is usually less than one page. See Figure 5-2 for a sample trademark assignment.

An owner need not ...

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