Intellectual property · Legal information

How Are an Assignment and a Licence of a Trade Mark Separated?

Author · Av. Ayşenur Konar, Avukat

Published ·

In short

An assignment of a trade mark passes the ownership of the right on the register to the other party. A licence gives a right of use and leaves ownership with the person who assigns. The two transactions are not set up with the same sentence of agreement. Each is written as a separate clause in the contract. An oral joining does not choose the type, and the class list in the bulletin is not carried by that sentence either. A result against a third person is not announced before the register record and the contract stand side by side. A promise of sale that came out of a notary is not put in place of the register extract either. The steps of the application for registration are not a short route that will stand in for this distinction. The application form does not announce a new owner.

An assignment changes the owner on the register

An assignment is the transaction that passes ownership of the mark from one person to another. Unless the contract writes this passing openly, an invoice, a payment slip, or commercial correspondence does not produce a new owner. A partial assignment leaves a part of the list of goods or services. The remaining classes stay with the person who assigns, and a sentence that I assigned the whole list orally does not carry it to the classes in the bulletin. A promise of sale drawn up before a notary does not stand in for the register annotation. The buyer can meet an attachment, a pledge, or another assignment from before the assignment is entered. An assignment made while the application continues does not mean the application has fallen out of process. The Office record and the list of goods are followed separately.

A licence limits the authority

A licence ties the authority to use the mark to a duration, a region, or a limit of goods. Ownership stays with the person who grants the licence, and the duration and the region are not frozen as a figure in this note. An exclusive licence limits the right holder from giving the same authority to someone else in the same region. A simple licence does not set this limit, and if the contract does not write the type, the invoice does not invent the type later. If authority for a sub-licence was not given openly, the licensee cannot assign the mark to someone else, and cannot open the right of use to a third person the contract does not write. The price can be a share of sales or a lump sum. A rate is not fixed, and an unpaid price does not itself turn into an action for infringement.

The register stands against a third person

A contract can arise between the parties. Assertion against third persons is strengthened by entry on the register, and an unrecorded assignment can stay weak against a later transaction in good faith. The petition does not close this gap. The list of goods, the type of the transaction, and the name of the parties should stand on the document. The document of assignment and the licence contract are not counted as the same register line. The application papers and the register extract of each transaction are read apart. That the office is in Çankaya does not choose the competent authority in a dispute over an assignment or a licence. The institution where the register is does not, on its own, set up the place where the file will be heard.

If the type is not written, the invoice does not choose the type

The question of how an assignment and a licence are separated comes out of not melting the change of owner and the right of use into the same provision. The heading on the signature page does not choose the type on its own either. Entry of the licence on the register sits in the account of the register of a trade-mark licence. A pledge for security stays apart as the transaction of a pledge of the mark. How registration runs is in the text of trade-mark registration. It is not mixed with the door of what can be done in a trade-mark infringement. A new owner or a type of licence is not announced before the four records come side by side. A missing list of goods does not close this gap either.

The provision of the statute does not pass in front of the specimen

The Industrial Property Code No. 6769 sets up the frame of assignment and licence. The concrete result is read from the register extract and from the clause of the contract. The decision is not written merely by mentioning the name of the statute. Which good passed, and whether the transaction is an assignment or a licence, should appear on the document. If the application papers are incomplete, it is not drawn whether the right was assigned or only a right of use was given. An announcement of a new owner without a register record is not treated as completed by the title on the invoice or by the promise of sale before the notary.

Conclusion

An assignment changes the owner. A licence gives a right of use, and the two do not join in the same signature sentence. Each wants its own clause. The register record carries the effect against a third person. A guide to pledge and to registration does not build this distinction again. The whole of the frame sits on the intellectual property law page. If there is no register extract and no contract, a new owner or a type of licence is not stated. An invoice does not fill this gap either.

Legislation

Frequently asked questions

Does a licence contract sell the mark?

No. A licence gives a right of use. Ownership stays with the person who grants the licence if there is no assignment in the contract. If the two transactions join in the same signature, each is written in a separate clause.

I signed before a notary. Is the register a condition?

A contract can arise between the parties. The effect against third persons is strengthened by entry on the register. An unrecorded assignment can stay weak against a later transaction in good faith.

Can there be an assignment while the application for registration continues?

An application can also give rise to a right, and it can be assigned. The assignment does not mean the application has fallen out of process. The Office record and the fee are not a figure in this note.

Related reading

This article sits under one practice area. The neighbouring guides carry the detail that does not belong in this text.

Practice areas · Intellectual property

Sources

AK

Author

Av. Ayşenur Konar

Lawyer on the Ankara Bar Association roll, founder of Konar Hukuk. This text is general information; a specific file is reviewed separately. Author profile · Editorial policy

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