Closing a company / Question 1
What happens to the company’s trademarks?
Intelligence, not legal advice. Screening is a starting point, not a clearance opinion.
They are assets, like everything else the company owns. In a liquidation, the liquidators realise the assets, and a mark can be sold with the business or on its own; in a bankruptcy, it can be realised like other assets. A mark nobody takes stays registered until its term runs out without renewal.
01 / An asset
Liquidators realise the assets.
Liquidators finish the company’s current business, realise its assets and meet its obligations; unless the general meeting has decided otherwise, they may also sell assets privately. (OR Art. 743(1) and (4))
A trademark can be pledged and can be the object of compulsory enforcement. (MSchG Art. 19(1))
Check a name ↑02 / A sale
In writing, then in the register.
When a business is transferred, its marks go with it unless agreed otherwise. A mark can also be transferred on its own, for all or some of its goods and services. (MSchG Art. 17(1) and (4))
A transfer is valid only in writing, and against third parties acting in good faith it takes effect once it is entered in the register; until then, claims can still be brought against the previous holder. (MSchG Art. 17(2) and (3))
Check a name ↑03 / If nobody takes it
A mark runs out.
A registration runs ten years from filing. The IPI cancels it when it is not renewed, or earlier when the holder asks. (MSchG Arts. 10 and 35)
If assets turn out not to have been realised or distributed after a liquidation, anyone with a legitimate interest can ask the court to enter the deleted company in the register again. (OR Art. 935)
Check a name ↑04 / In Antevo
See what is registered under the name.
The free check screens a name across 50+ trademark registers and lists the marks near it, with office, status and the holder where it is a company. For owners, liquidators and buyers, it is a first look at what the name carries. No account needed; the answer appears on this page.
Check a name ↑Sources
Where this comes from.
The counts behind the figures, the Federal Statistical Office’s bankruptcy figures and the primary sources for every legal point. Intelligence, not advice: nothing here is legal or tax advice, and your lawyer, notary or fiduciary confirms what a closure requires.