Trademark is a powerful tool for enterprise development and plays an irreplaceable role in enterprise development. Currently, whether you are opening a store on e-commerce platforms such as Tmall, JD.com, or Douyin, or opening a store in a large supermarket, you need to use a trademark. In order to quickly develop their business, companies will choose to obtain registered trademarks through trademark transfer.

The trademark transfer process includes: application → acceptance → review → announcement → issuance of transfer certificate. There are some risks in the trademark transfer process. In order to facilitate us to obtain the right to use the trademark as soon as possible, we need to pay more attention during the transfer:

1. Is the transferred trademark a valid trademark?

Before the trademark transfer begins, you must first check the trademark status to confirm whether the trademark has been revoked or canceled. Only after confirming that the trademark is a valid trademark can it be transferred.

2. Remaining useful life of trademarks

All trademarks have a validity period, which is 10 years from the date of trademark registration approval. The trademark needs to be continued to be used before expiration and must be renewed, otherwise it will face the risk of revocation. Therefore, before the transfer, the transferee should inquire about the remaining useful life of the transferred trademark and require the transferor to complete the renewal procedures as soon as possible. Generally speaking, the longer the remaining useful life of a trademark, the higher the value of the trademark.

3. Trademark licensing

In addition to trademark transfer, the trademark owner can also sign a trademark license contract and allow others to use its registered trademark. Even if the trademark is transferred, the licensee can continue to use the trademark during the validity period of the license contract. Therefore, the transferee should know whether the trademark is licensed to other people or companies before transferring it to avoid harming its own interests.

4. Whether the trademark has been pledged

For those trademarks that have been seized by the court and registered as pledges, during the seizure period or pledge period, if the trademarks have not been pledged by the court and have been pledged, If the rights holder agrees, the trademark cannot be transferred.

5. Whether the trademark has been transferred repeatedly

In order to prevent criminals from committing fraud by repeatedly transferring the trademark, the transferee should check whether the trademark has been transferred before the transfer to prevent being deceived.

6. Obtain transfer approval procedures from the Trademark Office

When handling a trademark transfer, after both parties sign a transfer agreement, they also need to obtain transfer procedures approved by the Trademark Office. If they do not obtain this procedure, even if the transfer fee has been paid, the trademark ownership still belongs to the transferor. The transferee will face serious legal risks without legally recognized trademark ownership, and the transferee needs to be careful.

Trademark transfer reflects the flexible allocation of trademark resources and is beneficial to both the trademark transferor and the transferee. Trademark transfer generally takes 6-10 months. Compared with registering a trademark, obtaining a trademark through trademark transfer saves time. However, we cannot blindly pursue speed. There are many risks and precautions during the trademark transfer process, and we still cannot ignore it!