What is a license?

In trademark law, a license is an agreement whereby one party allows another to use their trademark in some predetermined fashion. When a trademark is licensed, the trademark owner must exercise quality control over your use of the mark (or else they risk losing any rights to the mark), and the license agreement should include information about how this will be done. This typically entails a requirement that the party licensing the mark provide certain samples to the trademark owner, and that the trademark owner be permitted to inspect and otherwise monitor use of the mark. If a trademark owner licenses a trademark and does not exercise this quality control, they risk losing their own rights in the mark.