Skip to main content
Contribution to Book
Trademark Transactions: in the United States: Towards De Facto Trading in Gross?
Faculty Scholarship
  • Irene Calboli, Texas A&M University School of Law
Document Type
Book Section
Publication Date
2-2016
ISBN
9781783472123
DOI
10.4337/9781783472130.00037
Abstract

In this chapter, I elaborate on the current laws regarding trademark transactions in the United States (U.S.). In particular, I address the rules and requirements that apply to trademark assignments and trademark licensing agreements. Based on the principle that trademarks are not protected as property rights, U.S. trademark law has historically forbidden trading trademarks ‘in gross’. As a result, trademarks must be assigned with the associated goodwill of the business to which the marks belong and, in licensing agreements, licensors must control the quality of the products that are produced by the licensees under the license agreement. Since their introduction, however, these rules have proven ambiguous, primarily due to the lack of clear definitions as to what constitutes ‘trademark goodwill’ and ‘quality control’. As a result, the courts have applied these rules inconsistently. Furthermore, because of the ambiguity surrounding these concepts, the courts have de facto moved away from a strict application of these rules and have instead assessed the validity of trademark transactions based primarily on whether the quality of the products at issue remains consistent and whether or not the public is confused as to this quality

Num Pages
23
Series
Elgar Intellectual Property Law and Practice series
Publisher
Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.
Editor
Irene Calboli and Jacques de Werra
Book Title
The Law and Practice of Trademark Transactions - A Global and Local Outlook
Disciplines
Citation Information
Irene Calboli. "Trademark Transactions: in the United States: Towards De Facto Trading in Gross?" (2016) p. 439 - 461
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/irene_calboli/116/