10-2596, 10-2597, 10-2598 & 10-2599 In re XMH Corp.

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//July 26, 2011//

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United States Court of Appeals

Civil Opinion

Intellectual Property

Trademarks; assignment

A trademark license is not assignable without the owner’s express permission.

“Often the owner of a trademark will find that the most efficient way to exploit it is to license the production of the trademarked good to another company, which may have lower costs of production or other advantages over the trademark’s owner. Normally the owner who does this will not want the licensee to be allowed to assign the license (that is, sublicense the trademark) without the owner’s consent, because while the owner will have picked his licensee because of confidence that he will not degrade the quality of the trademarked product he can have no similar assurance with respect to some unknown future sublicensee.”

Affirmed.

10-2596, 10-2597, 10-2598 & 10-2599 In re XMH Corp.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Hibbler, J., Posner, J.

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