I have done a bit of searching, both on SD and on the web in general, and have become quite confused about this topic. Is there a connection between trademark registration and ownership?
If there is an old trademark that has been abandoned (“dead” ) on the US trademark website, can I register that mark as my own and have “ownership” of it? Would you be able to liscence their use, assuming you could find someone who wanted to use them? These marks have been abandoned in the database for several years, so I would assume that if the original owners wanted them, they would have registered them by now.
This seems a rather confusing legal point, so hopefully a doper or two can straighten me out.
IANAL but the the Law is not entirely clear and varies from case to case. However, if the trademark is old and no trace exists of teh former owner and is not in common use it can be picked up again. If the former owner stills exists, you probably cant reregister it see http://www.biglist.com/lists/lists.inta.org/tmtopics/archives/0502/msg00082.html
One basic concept that people forget about trademarks is that you have to have an actual product or service to attach the trademark to, and then you have to engage in actual commerce with that product or service. That’s why there is a gap of several years between the application for the trademark, and the registration of the trademark: you have to show that you have been actually engaging in commerce with the trademark as you planned.