The Florida Senate

495.081  Assignments; changes of name; security interests.--

(1)  A registered mark or a mark for which an application for registration has been filed shall be assignable with the goodwill of the business in which the mark is used or with that part of the goodwill of the business connected with the use of and symbolized by the mark. Assignments shall be by an instrument in writing duly executed and may be recorded with the department upon the payment of the applicable fee. A photocopy of an assignment shall be accepted for recording if it is certified by any of the parties thereto, or their successors, to be a true and correct copy of the original. Upon recording of the assignment, the department shall issue in the name of the assignee a new certificate for the remainder of the term of the registration or of the last renewal thereof.

(2)  An assignment of any registration under this chapter shall be void against any subsequent purchaser for valuable consideration without notice, unless such assignment is recorded with the department within 3 months after the date of the assignment or prior to the subsequent purchase.

(3)  A registrant or applicant for registration effecting a change of the name may record a certificate of change of name of the registrant or applicant with the department upon the payment of the recording fee payable to the department in accordance with s. 495.191 In the case of a pending application for a mark that becomes approved for registration, the department shall issue a certificate of registration in the registrant's new name. In the case of a registered mark, the department shall issue a new certificate of registration in the registrant's new name for the remainder of the term of the registration or last renewal thereof. A person's failure to record a name change in accordance with this subsection shall not affect the person's substantive rights in the mark or its registration.

(4)  Acknowledgment shall be prima facie evidence of the execution of an assignment or other instrument and, when recorded by the department, the record shall be prima facie evidence of execution.

(5)  Security interests in marks shall be created and perfected in accordance with chapter 679.

History.--s. 1, ch. 67-58; s. 3, ch. 67-560; ss. 10, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 7, ch. 71-114; s. 3, ch. 87-265; s. 10, ch. 2006-191.