Types of Trademark Assignment in India and its advantages

Types of Trademark Assignment in India and its advantages

What is a Trademark?

A Trademark is a graphical representation of a Company's Brand. It can be a sign, symbol, or word registered under the company's Brand. A Trademark is used to represent the product and services of that Brand. The Trademark is a representation of the Brand in the customer's eyes. It is the Intellectual property of that company. In the event of any trademark infringement, the Brand's name or authenticity gets compromised in the retailer's market.

What is Trademark Assignment?

Although a registered trademark can be sold, assigned, or transferred. These operations on a Trademark's ownership can only happen on the owner's intention. The trademark owner can assign the Trademark to anyone he wishes. But the Trademark assignment requires a legal procedure to follow for such transmission. This legal procedure of trademark assignment in which the transfer of ownership shifts to another party is termed trademark assignment or transmission. Therefore, this article will detail the types and benefits of trademark assignment in India.

Types of Trademark Assignment The applicant can assign a trademark to another party in four different ways. But the type will be chosen as per the arrangement agreed upon by the assignor and assignee of the Trademark. Let us look at each of its types one by one:

Complete Trademark Assignment In this kind of Trademark Assignment, the assignor, i.e., the owner of the Trademark, can transfer all the rights of the Trademark to the assignee, which is the receiver of the Trademark. After the transfer, the trademark assignor will not have any ownership of its Trademark to the assignee. In this Assignment, the trademark assignee will have full rights about the Trademark. He can use the Trademark for the following purposes:    

Market Trademark's value Selling brand products Rights to earn royalties under Trademark Rights to make the further Trademark Assignment

Partial Trademark Assignment In this kind of Trademark Assignment, the assignor only transfers the Trademark for specific products and/or services. The assignment arrangement is subjective here. Its terms will be defined in the assignment agreement. This partial transfer can be permanent or temporary, i.e., transfer for a specific period. In this Assignment, the assignor can also permanently transfer the trademark ownership for some specific goods or services.

Trademark Assignment with Goodwill In this arrangement, the Trademark assignor assigns the rights, entitlements, and values associated with the assignee. The assignee can use the Trademark for any goods or services. This includes the goods and services that the Trademark assignor previously used. By this, the assignor establishes goodwill between himself and the assignee. Consequently, the assignees can further use the Trademark for their own growth.

Trademark Assignment without Goodwill

In this type of Assignment, the Trademark assignor assigns the rights and entitlements to the assignee. The assignee can further use it for its products or services that are not in use for the assignor of the Trademark.

Such an assignment without goodwill restricts the usage of the Trademark to only those products and services which are different from the Trademark assignor's products and services. The Trademark assignee must not compete with the Trademark assignor in the market. This supposed restriction keeps the goodwill out of business transactions.

Trademark Assignment advantages Enables Brand Encashment The Assignment service can enable a Brand to encash its value in the market and earn money from that encashment.

Brand Reputation used for Promotional purposes The Trademark Assignee can, after the Assignment, use the established market brand to promote and market its own products and services. They can earn revenue for their business using a pre-existing reputable brand.

Mutual benefit of Assignee and Assignor Every stakeholder enters into the assignment business only for their own benefit.

Therefore, the assignment procedure yields benefits for both the trademark assignor and the assignee. They can both mutually benefit from this scheme. Such Assignments can be used for their business expansion.

Legal Authentication A registered assignment agreement enables both the assignor and the assignee to establish their legal rights in a court of law. If any dispute arises after the Assignment, they can both move the court to safeguard their rights in relation to the Trademark.