Back to Trademark ownership

Who should own my trademark - me or my company?

Written by Jan Buza

Co-founder of Trama

Your company, in most circumstances. A trademark should be owned by the entity that uses it commercially. If you own the trademark personally and the company is the commercial user, a license agreement between you and the company is needed to formally authorize that use. This adds paperwork, and if the company is ever sold, the trademark requires a separate assignment rather than transferring automatically with the business.

If your company is not yet established, filing as an individual now and transferring ownership once the company is incorporated is the practical alternative.

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