Trademark Transfer transfer, assign, or license your registered mark.

Trademark transfer is the legal mechanism by which the ownership of a registered trademark, an applied trademark, or a pending application is transferred from one person to another. Under Sections 37 to 45 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, transfers can take many forms — assignment with goodwill, assignment without goodwill, transmission on succession or death, transmission on amalgamation or merger of companies, and licensing arrangements that confer use rights without transferring ownership.

Whatever the form of transfer, the change in proprietorship must be recorded on the Register of Trade Marks for the assignee or licensee to have an enforceable interest in the mark. The recordal is done by filing Form TM-P with the Trade Marks Registry along with the duly stamped assignment deed, board resolutions, NOC where required, and applicable fee. Until the recordal is complete, the transferee cannot legally enforce the mark, prevent infringement, or claim the statutory rights of a registered proprietor.

Our trademark transfer practice covers the full transfer lifecycle — pre-transfer diligence on the validity and encumbrance of the mark, drafting of the assignment deed with appropriate covenants and warranties, drafting of licensing and franchise agreements with quality control provisions, stamping under the relevant State Stamp Act, filing of Form TM-P with the Trade Marks Registry, and obtaining the updated certificate in the name of the new proprietor. We also handle special transfer scenarios — transmission on succession, transfer on company amalgamation, and assignment in M&A transactions.