Yes, you can. Trademarks and service marks can be licensed for use by others, so long as the owner of the mark has the right to control the manner of use of the mark and retains the right to control the quality of goods or services sold under that mark. What this means is that while the owner of the BEANIE BABY trademark may allow another manufacturer to use the BEANIE BABY name -- on a lunch box, for example -- it's the trademark owner who gets to control and direct not just the manner in which the mark is used but also the quality of the lunch box itself, so that consumers will not be misled about the source of the lunch box.
A trademark or service mark can also be sold or transferred outright. In this case, however, it is more than the mark itself that must change hands: the goodwill of the business the trademark represents (as well as existing registrations or pending applications) must be included as part of the sale or transfer.
Trademark Primer Courtesy of Lawrence Townsend, Esq.
Owen, Wickersham & Erickson, PC
Intellectual Property Law Since 1933
455 Market Street, 19th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
Telephone: 415-882-3200
Facsimile: 415-882-3232
For more information, contact Larry Townsend
email: ltownsend@owe.com
Page 11 of 11 
This document available in PDF format. (TMprimer.pdf 76k)
