Back to Trademark ownership

Can you change the owner of a trademark?

Senior Trademark Attorney

Yes. Trademark owners can freely transfer ownership to another individual or entity through a trademark assignment. This is a legal document that identifies the new and former owners, respectively, and outlines the details of the transferred mark. Once both parties sign the assignment, it is then recorded with the relevant IP office to update the register.

The one important exception is the US, where intent-to-use trademark applications cannot generally be transferred before a Statement of Use is filed, with narrow exceptions. Registered trademarks and use-in-commerce applications can be transferred without restriction.

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