Signing is not enough. It has to be recorded
We draft the assignment or licence agreement and handle the recordal before the relevant office, so the transaction takes effect against third parties too.
The agreement is only half the job
Buying a trademark is not like buying a car. Beyond the agreement between the parties, you need a document the office will accept as title for changing ownership in the register, and that document has formal requirements a generic contract does not always meet.
Recordal is what gives effect against third parties. Without it, the public register still shows the seller as proprietor: they receive the notifications on the file and the renewal reminders, and any proceedings would be addressed to them. You hold a contract, but the world sees something else.
Licences raise a similar issue by another route. There the problem is usually not the register but the drafting: a licence that fails to define its scope precisely — classes, territory, term, exclusivity, quality control — leaves open the questions that get argued years later, once a business has been built on top.
What we draft and file
Assignment
- Trademark or domain sale agreement
- Full or partial assignment, by class or territory
- Recordal of the transfer at the register
- Domain transfer between registrars
Licence
- Exclusive and non-exclusive licences
- Scope by class, territory and term
- Quality control and conditions of use
- Recordal of the licence where applicable
Other agreements
- Coexistence agreements between marks
- Distribution and franchise agreements
- Pledge of a trademark as financial security
- Review and updating of existing agreements
How we work
Tell us about the deal
Which asset, between whom and with what scope. That determines whether you need an assignment, a licence or something in between.
We check the file
Before drafting it is worth confirming the seller really is the recorded proprietor and that there are no charges or pending proceedings on the mark.
We draft the document
With the formal requirements the office demands, so it works both between the parties and for the recordal.
We record the transfer
Before the Spanish, EU or WIPO offices as applicable, confirming once ownership is recorded in your name.
We can also act as intermediary
In a private sale someone has to move first: pay before receiving, or assign before being paid. We can sit in the middle as guarantors, verify the asset is what it is claimed to be, hold the process and handle the recordal. Neither side is left exposed.
Frequently asked questions
Is a private agreement between the parties enough?
It is valid between you, but it is not enough. A private agreement binds whoever signs it, and that is where its effect ends: for the assignment to be enforceable against third parties it must be recorded in the relevant register. Until it is recorded, the publicly listed proprietor is still the seller, with everything that entails.
What happens if I do not record the assignment?
As far as the office and any third party are concerned, the mark still belongs to the seller. They keep receiving notifications on the file, including renewal reminders, and they are the ones who would be addressed in any proceedings. If you later want to sell, licence or enforce the mark, you will first have to sort out the chain of title. And if the seller has disappeared or changed their mind, sorting it out gets considerably harder.
What must the agreement say for the recordal to succeed?
The office requires the parties to be identified unambiguously, along with the specific file being assigned and the scope of the assignment: whether it covers all classes or only some, all territories or part of them. A document drafted without that care is valid between the parties but may be rejected at the register, and then it has to be redone with the other side, who has already been paid and may be in no hurry.
What is the difference between assigning and licensing?
An assignment transfers ownership: the mark stops being yours. A licence keeps ownership and authorises a third party to use it on specific terms. They are different transactions with different consequences, and confusing the two is a common source of disputes: someone believes they bought a trademark when what they signed was a right of use.
What should a licence agreement cover?
The scope, which is what prevents most litigation: which classes and goods it covers, in what territory, for how long, whether it is exclusive, whether the licensee may sublicense, who controls the quality of use, and what happens on termination. A licence without defined limits ends up being argued over, and by then a business has been built on it.
What does it cost and how long does recordal take?
Our fees start at €299 and cover drafting the document and handling the recordal. The final amount depends on the number of files involved, whether the assignment spans several territories, and the complexity of the agreement, so we send a fixed quote before starting. On our side we file the recordal request within 24 to 48 hours of receiving the signed document; how long the office takes to process it is up to them and varies by register and workload.
Tell us about the deal on your desk
With the file number and a line about what you want to agree, we will tell you which document is needed and what filing goes with it.