What are the legal risks of trademark licensing contracts?
1. The parties to the contract and the licensed trademarks with legal risks must be registered trademarks, and the licensor must be the owner of the registered trademarks. In accordance with the relevant regulations, if the trademark of drugs for human use, nutritious food for medical use, nutritious beverage for medical use and baby food is used, the licensee shall provide the certification documents of the health administrative department; Where the trademarks of cigarettes, cigars and packaged cut tobacco are used, the licensee shall provide the certification documents approved by the national tobacco authorities. The licensee is outside the mainland of China and does not need such documents. If the parties to the contract do not meet the relevant provisions, they are unqualified subjects without legal qualifications, which will lead to the legal risk of invalid contracts. 2. Legal Risks of Out-of-scope Licensing The goods or services that the licensee uses the licensed trademark shall be consistent with those approved by the Trademark Office, and shall not exceed the scope of the goods or services approved by the Trademark Office. Once the license is used beyond the scope, the licensee uses the trademark beyond the scope, which may infringe the trademark rights of others and be investigated for tort liability by others; Licensor also faces legal risks such as invalid contract and breach of contract. 3. Legal Risk of Improper Use of Trademarks According to the regulations, some licensees conceal the actual producer's name and place of origin in order to avoid the goods being considered as OEM products. This improper use of trademarks will lead to administrative and civil legal risks. According to the law, in this case, the administrative department for industry and commerce where the licensee is located may order the licensee to make corrections within a time limit, confiscate its trademark logo, and may impose a fine of less than 5, yuan according to the circumstances. In addition, if the licensee violates the obligation of normal use of the trademark in the trademark license contract, it will face the legal risk of bearing the liability for breach of contract. 4. Filing of licensing contracts and legal risks Article 26 of the Trademark Law stipulates that a trademark licensing contract shall be reported to the Trademark Office for filing. Article 43 of the Regulations for the Implementation of the Trademark Law stipulates that if another person is licensed to use his registered trademark, the licensor shall submit a copy of the contract to the Trademark Office for filing within 3 months from the date of signing the trademark license contract. It is generally believed that the filing of a trademark license contract is not a condition for the trademark license contract to take effect, but only a procedural requirement. However, the trademark licensing contract has not been put on record and cannot have the effect against a third party. In this case, if the trademark owner transfers the trademark, the new assignee may exclude the licensee's right to use the trademark. Therefore, the failure to put on record will not affect the validity of the license contract, but it will also cause legal risks to the licensee.