Avery Lee
If you offer products or services, or only content on your website or social media pages, you most likely want a return on the investment of your time and often the hundreds or thousands of dollars you spent building your brand and reputation around your trademarks (for example, names, slogans or logos).
The value of trademarks
Trademarks act as a shortcut for your customers, viewers, and/ or users to distinguish you from the rest of the market. As you use your trademarks, they gain recognition and people start developing a loyalty to your brand.
Expanding, licensing and franchising
When you launch your business or website, you are likely starting out small, whether that be in a particular city or country, or providing a niche product or service. What trademarks allow you to do is to expand your presence in the market more easily.
For example, you may have started your restaurant in one city but after experiencing some success you may want to open up new restaurants in different cities and even countries. Of course, you may not be able to or want to run all those separate restaurants yourself. Instead, you can license or franchise the rights to use your trademarks to someone else in exchange for a royalty (e.g. a percentage of net sales).
Entering into a co-branding partnership with another company is also a great way to expand your market and increase the value of your trademarks.
Selling to potential buyers and investors
Whether you are looking to exit a particular market or looking to pivot, you can sell the exclusive rights to use your trademarks as a whole or limited to particular market sectors. Trademarks can also be used as collateral to receive funding from investors or financing from banks.
Potential buyers may be one of your business partners, a competitor, or someone who is looking to enter into your market and wants to sell products or services under your trademarks. Since attracting potential buyers may be hardest part of selling a trademark, there are also websites you can use like the US Trademark Exchange, or even eBay, to list your trademark for sale, licence, or auction.
Before you can sell or license your trademarks, you need to make sure you actually own the exclusive rights to them by filing trademark applications in each country where you intend to use them.
Please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to learn more about beginning the process of making money with your trademarks.
XLNC MAGAZINE | No. 10 | Autumn 2022