1. Can the trademark right be transferred?
Trademark ownership can be transferred. First, trademark rights have a time limit. Therefore, before concluding a trademark transfer contract and a trademark license contract, we should first examine whether the exclusive right to use a trademark as the subject of the contract is still within its validity period, how long it is valid, and whether the registered trademark has been renewed. This is to prevent some units or individual industrial and commercial households and individual partnerships. Never transfer a trademark that is not protected by law, that is, a trademark that has no exclusive right to use a trademark, or allow others to use it and cheat each other.
Second, the transfer of trademark rights must be carried out in accordance with the methods and procedures prescribed by law, and may not be transferred by itself.
Second, what are the characteristics of trademark rights?
(1) Proprietary: The exclusivity of trademark rights, also known as exclusivity or monopoly, means that the owner of a registered trademark enjoys the exclusive right to use its registered trademark, and no other unit or individual may use the registered trademark without the permission of the owner.
(2) Timeliness: The temporality of trademark right is also called statutory temporality, which means that trademark right is a time-limited right, which is only protected by law within the effective period. If the term of validity expires, the trademark right will be terminated and will no longer be protected by law.
(3) Regionality: Trademark right has strict regionality, which is determined by the nature of domestic law of trademark right.
(4) Transferability: As a property right, a trademark registrant can transfer or license the property right under certain conditions.
Third, the problems that should be paid attention to in the free transfer of trademarks.
In the practice of trademark transfer, free transfer sometimes occurs. The trademark transferor transfers the trademark to the transferee, but the trademark transferor does not get any consideration, or some trademark transfer contracts clearly stipulate that the trademark transfer is free.
Trademark right is a kind of property right. In fact, the free transfer of trademark rights should be a gift from the legal point of view, and this trademark transfer contract should belong to a gift contract.
Article 185 of the Contract Law stipulates that a gift contract is a contract in which the donor gives his property to the donee free of charge and the donee expresses his acceptance of the gift. Obviously, the property in the gift contract includes tangible property and intangible property, and the trademark right is no exception. The donee obtains the property for free, that is, there is no need to pay the consideration.
Therefore, what needs special attention here is the question of the donor exercising the right of revocation.
Article 186 of the Contract Law stipulates that the donor may revoke the gift before the right to donate the property is transferred.
As mentioned above, the transfer time of trademark right shall be the date when the trademark authority approves the announcement. In this way, there is still a long time between the signing of the trademark gift contract and the announcement of trademark transfer, during which the trademark donor can cancel the gift at any time. Because many parties do not fully understand that trademarks are property rights, many parties sign trademark transfer contracts at will, often without agreeing on the consideration or directly expressing them for free, so the legal risks faced by trademark transferees are very great.
Therefore, it is prudent to stipulate a clear consideration in the trademark transfer contract. If it is a free transfer, it is best to sign a "gift contract".
The above is about whether the trademark right can be transferred and whether the trademark right can be transferred. Related content of. If you have any other questions, you can consult Intellectual Property for a detailed understanding.