Trade Mark Licensing

If you are licensing your trade mark, you could be permitting more than you bargained for…

Did you know, that if you licence another party to use your trade mark, the Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth) confers certain rights on the licensee (known as the authorised user). 

These statutory rights permit the licensee to:

• commence trade mark infringement proceedings
• give notices to the Comptroller-General of Customs objecting to the importation of goods that infringe the trade mark
• give permission to any person to alter, deface, make any addition to, remove, erase or obliterate the trade mark that is applied to any goods or services, in respect of which the trade mark is registered
• give permission to any person to apply the trade mark to goods or services in respect of which the trade mark is registered.

Is this the outcome you intended?

Legal advice should be sought when entering into trade mark licence agreements as to whether these statutory rights will benefit you, or whether you can seek to exclude them.

If you have any queries regarding licensing of intellectual property, please contact us.  03 9548 5500