# What happens to trademarks & logos when a company tanks?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-trademarks-logos-when-a-company-tanks/335599
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 14, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-trademarks-logos-when-a-company-tanks/335599 "2005-12-14T16:05:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-trademarks-logos-when-a-company-tanks/335599/1 "2005-12-14T16:05:43Z")
You have a company and you’ve created a logo to represent it. Then you go out of business. What happens to the logo? Who owns it?
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### Author:  [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2005, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-trademarks-logos-when-a-company-tanks/335599/2 "2005-12-14T16:12:15Z")
They can get sold as part of the company assets.
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### Author:  [@girls\_shoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/girls_shoes)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2005, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-trademarks-logos-when-a-company-tanks/335599/3 "2005-12-14T16:15:07Z")
Sometimes they simply lapse and can be aquired by anyone. That’s exactly what happened to a popular local beer brand. When the company went under Miller picked up the label for free, to the complaint of the old owners, but they had relinquished all rights to renege their debts.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-trademarks-logos-when-a-company-tanks/335599/4 "2005-12-14T16:22:26Z")
If not sold, the trademark eventually lapses. The trademark owner has to file paperwork to indicate the trademark is still currently being used. You can continue to renew the trademark indefinitely (filing every 10 or 20 years, depending on the trademark), but once the paperwork is no longer filed, the trademark is up for grabs.
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2005, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-trademarks-logos-when-a-company-tanks/335599/5 "2005-12-14T16:58:55Z")
Semi-hijack
My Dad used to own a Sinclair Gas Station. They had a green dinosaur logo.
Today, he buys lots of brand-new Sinclair stuff online, even though I haven’t seen a Sinclair station in years.
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2005, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-trademarks-logos-when-a-company-tanks/335599/6 "2005-12-14T17:21:01Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#):
>
> Semi-hijack
>
> My Dad used to own a Sinclair Gas Station. They had a green dinosaur logo.
>
> Today, he buys lots of brand-new Sinclair stuff online, even though I haven’t seen a Sinclair station in years.
[They’re still around.](http://www.sinclairoil.com/locations.asp)
They aren’t in Michigan anymore, but as a kid I remember them and getting a green dinosaur soap as a promo.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-trademarks-logos-when-a-company-tanks/335599/7 "2005-12-14T17:30:58Z")
The key to obtaining rights in a trademark is demonstrating _use in commerce_. Unlike what many people believe, you can’t just file a trademark registration and then sit on it forever without ever using it. You must be using the mark as an indicator of the source of goods and services or you lose your rights in it and someone else can start using it. A trademark does not exist independent of its use in commerce.
> [@](#):
>
> What happens to the logo? Who owns it?
If nobody’s using it as a mark on their goods or services, then nobody owns it.