Legal Question in Business Law in Maryland
Trademarks
A corporation was formed in 1993. In 1996 the company applies for a trademark on the companies name. In 1997 the company forfeited its corporate charter. In 1998 the trademark was registered. Is this a valid trademark? If the company has been operating as a corporation without a charter for 4 years (which I am assuming is illegal), is it possible that they could lose their trademark? I have purchased the charter for this company, although they currently have a federal trademark. Under what circumstances could a company lose their trademark? Thank you.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Trademarks
The mark is probably still valid - the corporate assets devolve to the directors as fiduciaries for the creditors and shareholders upon termination of the charter, so if the creditors are paid, the TM would belong to the shareholders. If they continue to operate the business as a partnership, the mark probably belongs to them, even if their use of a corporate name is illegal (which it is only if they use the "Inc." or "Corp." references). While the registration may be subject to cancellation, the common law use of the mark continued, so the mark stays with the entity using it. Your "purchase" of the charter is actually the establishment of a new corporation under the same name, unless you are referring to having bought the shares in the defunct corporation. The new corporation is not the same entity and does not own the former corp.'s property, and probably cannot use the corporate name in commerce due to the conflicting mark.
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