Assignment of Trademarks in India

Introduction

The little 'TM' you see on the logo, design or any expression of any product is called the trademark of that brand. A trademark will differentiate a product of a brand from any other brand, making it unique from other business or brands. A trademark registration is a must if you are opening your own small business along with VAT Registration. A trademark can help maintain your product's market share, you can assign or transfer it to other traders or sell it right away. There are different types of trademarks. Trademarks are which a brand or product can be distinguished from other products. Some of them are Word marks, Device marks, Sound marks, Color marks and Shape marks. Wordmarks are distinguished from other goods by the name of the product, Color marks are distinguished from their color from other products, Shape marks are distinguished from their shapes, device marks are special expressions that may be displayed in cool different fonts and Sound marks are short play tunes that are made especially for the product, which will lead to differentiating it from other goods.

What is Assignment of Trademarks?

Assignment of trademarks is transferring of any proprietary rights of a brand or product by the actual owner to the other trader. All the rights of that product get assigned (transferred) to other trader and after the transfer is made, the old proprietor no longer holds any rights over the rights of the product that were transferred to the other trader (or any other entity). The assignment may be on the temporary basis, for example, an owner Chain stores of Clothing may transfer the rights and authorities of the 'T-shirts' they manufacturer to some other trader for a period of time. Now the original owner can not exercise any rights of the goods i.e T-shirts for that specific period of time. On the other hand, they may transfer the rights of manufacturing of T-Shirts permanently. An agreement will be made between the traders for the assignment of shares. Don't know anything about The Assignment Deed?

Following are the points that are that must be included in an Assignment Deed:

1) The agreement between the proprietor and the other party will be a WRITTEN AGREEMENT and the rights and the mark which is being transferred will be mentioned CLEARLY. It can not be vague. 2) The specific date on which the mark/ marks are being assigned should also be mentioned clearly in the agreement along with the region in which the Marks are being transferred. 3) Although the mark/ marks can be transferred with or without the GOODWILL, it should be clearly DISCUSSED in the agreement whether the goodwill is also being assigned or not. For more information on Assignment of trademarks, you can contact us at LegalRaasta.

Do you have a Trademark? Do a Free Trademark Search before applying.