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Trademark Assignment and Licensing

A trademark can be sold or licensed like any other property. The difference is that the transfer has to be recorded, and an unrecorded one is hard to enforce.

Assignment versus licensing

Assignment transfers ownership. After it, the mark is theirs and you have no rights in it. It can be for all goods and services or limited to some.

Licensing keeps ownership with you and permits someone else to use the mark, on terms you set — territory, duration, quality standards, exclusivity.

Businesses confuse the two in casual agreements, and the confusion surfaces when the relationship ends. A document that says a distributor may use your brand is not the same as one that gives it to them, and the drafting has to make that unambiguous.

What actually needs doing

  • A written agreement setting out exactly what is transferred or permitted, for what goods and services, in what territory.
  • Recording with the Registry. An assignment that is not recorded leaves the register showing the old owner, which is what anyone checking will rely on.
  • Quality control in a licence. A licence with no control over how the mark is used weakens the mark itself, because a trademark signals a consistent source.
  • Termination terms. What happens to stock, packaging and signage when the licence ends is worth settling at the start.
  • Registered user entry where you want the licensee's use formally recognised.

Written 5 September 2026. Government requirements and portal behaviour change — message us to confirm before you rely on any date or figure here.

Where it goes wrong

The common pattern is an informal arrangement that runs for years — a relative, a franchisee, a distributor using the brand with everyone comfortable. Then the relationship ends and both sides believe they own it.

Untangling that is expensive and uncertain. A two-page licence at the start would have settled it. If you are already in the informal position, documenting it now is still much cheaper than litigating later.

Common questions

Only if the agreement says so and the assignment is recorded. Assuming it transfers with the business is a common and costly assumption.

Yes. Territory, goods and duration can all be limited. Say so precisely in the agreement.

Whether you can stop them depends on what the agreement says about quality and termination. Send it over.

It has effect between the parties, but the register shows otherwise, and enforcement against third parties becomes harder. Record it.

Send us your case

Tell us whether you are transferring ownership or permitting use. Those need different documents.

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