Joint Trademark Ownership
ATTORNEYS IN DALLAS
Issues implicated by joint trademark ownership and how to own a trademark jointly.
Joint Trademark Ownership
When multiple companies or individuals jointly apply for a trademark registration, they are considered joint owners. In the United States, trademark law allows for joint ownership if the parties are actively involved in the trademark's use in a trade.
Before accepting a registration application, an examining lawyer reviews it to ensure that the trademark and the companies using it are jointly owned by distinct parties that cannot be identified in any other way. The examining lawyer must confirm that the parties are not mislabeled as joint owners if they are part of a joint venture, partnership, or other trading entity. This investigation is only necessary if the application does not clearly identify the applicants for joint ownership of the trademark. The application must also include the applicants' relevant information and signatures.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Jointly Owned Trademarks
Joint ownership of a trademark offers significant advantages, which is why organizations often come together for joint marketing, trading, and manufacturing of goods or services. Legally, joint trademark owners must offer identical goods and services. In many ways, joint ownership of a trademark is similar to a partnership in terms of intellectual property rights.
Like general partners in a partnership, joint trademark owners have joint responsibility for their actions and are authorized to act in the trademark's name under the default law. Similarly, joint ownership of a trademark allows every owner to use the trademark to its full capacity. This helps prevent ownership disputes between distributors and manufacturers of the product associated with the trademark.
On the other hand, joint ownership of a trademark can complicate the transferability of the trademark and potentially interfere with licensing agreements. It may also impact the trademark's functionality and lead to costly legal disputes.
Filing Process for a Jointly Owned Trademark
To establish and acknowledge the owners of a joint ownership trademark, a contract must be drafted. An official representative of the joint venture may then file for the trademark on behalf of the owners through an online application on the USPTO website. The representative must specify the products to be covered by the trademark in the designated locations.
To begin the process, search the USPTO database and verify that the trademark is not already in use. Afterward, the trademark application form can be accessed on the website, with the option to select either the TEAS Form or TEAS Plus.
The TEAS Plus option has several requirements, which are listed within the selection window before proceeding. Once a selection is made, all details regarding the trademark owner, description, and intended goods covered must be entered on the form. Finally, the necessary fees must be paid through the preferred payment option to complete the application process.
Contact an Experienced Trademark Attorney
If you need legal advice regarding your trademark rights, assistance with trademark prosecution, or representation in a domain name dispute, contact Wilson Whitaker Rynell. Our team of trademark lawyers has extensive experience in all aspects of trademark and copyright law, including the filing of trademark applications and representing clients in defense or prosecution before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.
- 66(a) Applications
- Abandoning a Trademark Application or Withdrawing a TTAB Proceeding
- Abandonment and Nonuse
- Abbreviations as Trademarks
- Accelerated Case Resolutions
- Acquired Secondary Trademark Meaning
- Amending Trademark Application
- Assigning a Trademark
- Assigning a Trademark and the Intent to Use Application
- Avoiding Fraud on Trademark Applications
- Avoiding Trademark Litigation
- Basis for Filing a Trademark
- Benefits of Registering a Trademark
- Bona Fide Intent to Use
- Celebrity Trademarks
- Challenging the Relatedness Factor
- Challenging Trademark Rights
- Claims in a Notice of Opposition
- Co-Existence Agreements
- Common Law Trademarks in the Internet Era
- Common Law Use and Priority
- Conflicting Marks
- Consent Agreements
- Constructive Use Priority
- Dates of Use
- Defenses in Opposition and Cancellation Proceedings
- Descriptive or Generic Trademarks
- Design Marks
- Design Trademarks
- Determining Trademark Similarities
- Discovery in TTAB Proceedings
- Dividing a Trademark Application
- Drawing Page
- Electronic Display Specimens for Trademarks
- Evidence in TTAB Proceedings
- Evidence of Acquired Distinctiveness
- Expediting Trademark Cancellation for Nonuse or Abandonment
- Extending Time to Oppose
- Factors of a Likelihood of Confusion Analysis
- False Suggestions of Connection
- Famous Trademarks and Likelihood of Confusion and Dilution
- Filing an Opposition or Cancellation Proceedings
- First Sale Doctrine
- Five Years of Use
- Foreign Trademark Rights
- Generic Trademarks
- Geographic Trademarks
- Hiring Trademark Counsel
- Immoral and Scandalous Trademarks
- Incontestability of U.S. Trademarks
- International Trademark Filings
- Joint Trademark Ownership
- Lawful Use of a Trademark in Commerce
- Likelihood of Confusion Analysis
- Likelihood of Confusion Refusal
- Merely Descriptive Trademarks
- Multiple Bases for a Trademark Application
- Overcoming and Ornamentation Trademark Refusal
- Personal Name Trademarks
- Principal and Supplemental Registers
- Protecting Single Creative Works
- Recording Trademark Assignments
- Refusal of a Trademark
- Refusing a Trade Dress Application
- Registering a Certification Trademark
- Registering a Service Mark
- Registering a Trademark That Lacks Inherent Distinctiveness
- Registering an International Trademark
- Relatedness of Goods or Services
- Request for Reconsideration in Trademark Office Action
- Requirements for International Trademark Application
- Revive an Abandoned Trademark Application
- Secondary Meaning
- Source Confusion
- Special Trademark Applications
- Standard Character and Special Format Marks
- Standing in Opposition and Cancellation Proceedings
- State Trademark Registration
- Statement of Use Extensions
- Tacking Doctrine
- Technical Trademark Use
- The Supplemental Register
- Trade Dress
- Trade Dress Application
- Trademark Application
- Trademark Clearance Searches
- Trademark Disclaimers
- Trademark Licensing
- Trademark of Authors, Performing Artists, and Characters
- Trademark Ownership
- Trademark Protection In Texas
- Trademark Settlements
- Trademark Specimens
- Trademark Specimens
- Trademark Use by Related Company
- Trademark Use in Advertising
- Trademark Use in Commerce
- Trademarking a Distinctive Mark
- Trademarking a Hashtag
- Trademarks for Musical Artists
- TTAB Discovery Rules
- TTAB Proceedings
- U.S. Service Mark
- U.S. Trade Dress
- Understanding Trade Channels
- Unitary U.S. Trademark
- Universal Symbols as Trademarks
- Using Secondary Sources
- What is an Ex Parte Appeal?
- Where to Register a Trademark
- Who Must File a Trademark?
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