Do I need to give trademark rights to my incorporated company?


1

I hold many trademarks personally (no business entity involves here).

If I launch a company which is independent legal entity, do I need to give trademark rights to company before using it? Or, I was thinking this: My own company can survive without such rights because I would never sue my own company. And, I can sue other companies which would use trademark without taking its right from me. Am I missing something?

Getting Started Trademark

asked Aug 29 '12 at 05:12
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Sachin Shekhar
260 points

1 Answer


2

Yes, you are missing something.

In the U.S. (other countries are likely similar), you can't get a trademark unless you are actually using the trademark in commerce. You as an individual can't get a trademark if you are not using the mark.

I suppose you could use the trademark as an individual and also have the company use the same mark, but that seems likely to create a host of problems. People would have trouble distinguishing the two of you and maybe (speculating) that might lead to piercing the corporate veil.

If you got a trademark and are not using it, then you may not have read the fine print of the trademark application. That could be a problem as it would be a false statement to the trademark office.

If you got a trademark and are using it, then transferring the mark from yourself to the company, might be a taxable event as the mark would have some value. Maybe someone else here can elaborate on that.

answered Aug 29 '12 at 08:20
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Kekito
1,936 points
  • In India, anyone can hold trademark just like patents. I never had to give proof that I was using it for commerce. – Sachin Shekhar 12 years ago
  • Thanks for letting me know. The downside of Indian law is that I imagine people hoard trademarks in India the way people hoard domain names. The US rules prevent trademark hoarding. – Kekito 12 years ago

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Getting Started Trademark