Can I sell my trademark? Sure, a trademark is like any other piece of property, in that it can be sold or conveyed, either in part or in whole, to another party. A trademark is just like any other property, and you can dispose of that or rent it or sell it or do whatever else you want with it — within the confines of the law, of course.

And it’s treated just like any other property. So if you want to sell it, what do you do? Well, you have to find a willing buyer, of course. Somebody turned me on to this site. I’m going to shrink myself into the corner and show it to you. It’s called U.S. Trademark Exchange, and apparently it’s a place where anyone can buy and sell a trademark. I thought it was a pretty interesting idea. I haven’t really checked it out, but it looks like they have certain trademarks and other intellectual property for sale.

Now, what is intellectual property? Well, intellectual property is sort of an umbrella under which a number of different things fall. Things like copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets. They’re called “intangibles” generally because you can’t see or touch them, but they are nonetheless property. But these sorts of intellectual property intangibles are nonetheless transferable, because they represent a property right, that is, the exclusive use of something, like a business method, a unique logo or word or phrase, or a certain design or other creative work.Owners of intellectual property have the right to exclude others from using their intellectual property. Copyrights, trademarks, and patents are all intangibles that give you the right to forbid other people from doing certain things that would infringe upon your brand or your creations or your ideas. So, yes, they’re very much property.

You can also give away part of your intellectual property rights via a license. A license is the right to use someone else’s intellectual property, usually for a fee agreed upon by the licensee (the person who buys the license) and the licensor (the person granting the license aka the owner of the intellectual property). A license is a contract that sets the terms by which the licensee is able to use the licensor’s property, and it usually runs for a term of years and may or may not be renewable, depending upon the terms of the license.

A license may be exclusive to that licensee, meaning that no one else has such a license to use the property, or it may be one of many licenses granted to non-owners who wish to use the licensor’s property. They are usually written, which is important to make sure that both parties are “on the same page” so to speak. The license is a sort of partnership, where the owner of the intellectual property allows the licensee to use the licensor’s property in exchange for something, usually money. That license fee can be based on a flat amount, or based upon an amount per unit sold, or a combination of the two. It all depends on the intent of the parties.

A trademark license, for example, might grant a manufacturer/distributor the right to manufacture and sell products branded with a trademark holder’s trademark or logo design. This allows the manufacturer the right to make money using the trademark owner’s brand, and allows the trademark owner to expand her brand coverage to whatever goods the manufacturer is making, without herself having to manufacture these goods. Licensing deals can therefore be very advantageous for both the trademark owner and the licensee.

It’s probably got about 500 videos on by now. You can find me there at video.trademarkdoctor.net/YouTube. Ask me any questions you want by dropping them into the comments below. I’ll answer them on a future live video.

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Contact Dallas, Texas trademark attorney Angela Langlotz today to get started on a trademark application for your valuable brand.