The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 9: Commerce and Trade

Chapter 071: Trademarks; Registration of Name or Mark

• Subchapter 001: TRADEMARKS

• § 2521. Trademark defined

  The term “trademark” as used in this subchapter includes any word, name, symbol, or device, or any combination thereof, adopted and used:

  (1) by a manufacturer or merchant to identify his or her goods and distinguish them from those manufactured or sold by others; or

  (2) by another person on goods produced by his or her labor. (Amended 2021, No. 20, § 25.)

• § 2522. Registration

  Every person who adopts and uses any trademark for the purpose of designating, making known, and distinguishing any merchandise, goods, wares, or other products of labor, manufactured, produced, compounded, sold, or offered for sale in this State may, subject to the limitations hereafter set forth, file for record in the Office of the Secretary of State a statement under oath setting forth:

  (1) The name and address of the person applying for such registration.

  (2) The class of merchandise and a particular description of the goods comprised in each class to which such trademark has been appropriated and the mode in which it is used, the general nature of the applicant’s business, and the use of the subject of registration.

  (3) The date when such trademark hereunder was first used or adopted, and that no other person has the right to it, either in the identical form, or having such near resemblance thereto as may be calculated to deceive, or that would be liable to be mistaken therefor.

  (4) A facsimile, copy, or counterpart of such trademark shall be incorporated in or annexed to such statement, and a duplicate shall be filed therewith. Such statement shall be signed by the applicant in whose behalf it is filed, or by his, her, or its agent or duly authorized officer.

• § 2523. Certificate of registration; filing fee

  There shall be paid to the Secretary of State for the filing of such statement a fee of $35.00. The Secretary of State shall deliver to the person filing such statement or causing the same to be filed a certificate of registration under the Secretary’s signature and State Seal, showing the name and address of the person claiming ownership of the trademark registered, the date of such filing, a general description of the trademark to be registered, and a receipt showing the payment of the filing fee therefore. The fee for renewal of any registration shall be $35.00. (Amended 2003, No. 70 (Adj. Sess.), § 6, eff. March 1, 2004; 2023, No. 77, § 42, eff. June 20, 2023.)

• § 2524. Duration and renewal

  Registrations recorded under the provisions of this subchapter shall be effective for 10 years and shall be renewable for like periods upon application to the Secretary of State and payment of the fee specified in section 2523 of this title. Registrants of trademarks recorded hereunder shall be notified by the Secretary of State of the necessity of renewal within the one-year period next preceding the expiration of the 10 years from the date of registration. Trademarks previously registered under sections 7757 to 7762, inclusive, of the Vermont Statutes, Revision of 1947, shall expire six months after January 1, 1958, or 10 years from the date of their registration, whichever date is later, and applications for re-registration may be made within the six months’ period preceding the expiration of the original registration. The fee for a re-registration under the provisions of this section shall be $20.00. (Amended 2003, No. 70 (Adj. Sess.), § 7, eff. March 1, 2004.)

• § 2525. Assignments

  Title to any trademark and its registration hereunder may be transferred and assigned to any person together with the goodwill of the business to which such trademark pertains or with that part of the goodwill of the business connected with the use of and symbolized by the mark. Written assignments shall be recorded by the Secretary of State upon payment of the fee of $35.00. When such assignment is recorded, a new certificate of registration shall be issued in the name of the assignee. (Amended 2003, No. 70 (Adj. Sess.), § 8, eff. March 1, 2004; 2023, No. 77, § 43, eff. June 20, 2023.)

• § 2526. Applications for registration; classification

  All applications for registration of a trademark and renewals or assignments thereof shall be on forms prescribed by the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State shall establish classes of merchandise for the purpose of trademark registration, and shall determine the particular descriptions of goods comprised in each class. (Amended 1981, No. 217 (Adj. Sess.), § 9.)

• § 2527. Suitability for registration

  (a) The Secretary of State shall not register a trademark that consists of or comprises immoral, deceptive, or scandalous matter; or matter that may disparage or falsely suggest a connection with persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols, or bring them into contempt, or disrepute, or consists of or comprises the flag or coat of arms or other insignia of the United States, or of any state or municipality, or of any foreign nation or any simulation thereof.

  (b) The Secretary of State shall not register as a trademark the portrait of any living individual, except with the consent of such individual evidenced by an instrument in writing, or a merely geographical name or term, or any trademark that is identical with any trademark theretofore used or registered by any other person that, when applied to the goods of the applicant, is likely to cause confusion or mistake or to deceive purchasers, or that so nearly resembles such trademark as to be likely to cause confusion or mistake in the minds of the public or to deceive purchasers, or any trademark that consists merely in the name of any person, not written, printed, impressed, or woven in a particular or distinctive manner or in association with a portrait of such individual, or that consists merely in words that are descriptive of the merchandise with which they are used or the character or quality of such merchandise. (Amended 1981, No. 217 (Adj. Sess.), § 10.)

• § 2528. Fraudulent registration

  Any person who shall for himself, herself, or on behalf of any other person, procure the filing and registration of any trademark by making knowingly and willfully any false or fraudulent representations or declarations, verbally, or in writing, or by any fraudulent means, shall be liable to pay all damages sustained in consequence of any such filing, to be recovered by or on behalf of the party injured thereby, in a civil action on this statute, and shall be fined not exceeding $500.00 or imprisoned not exceeding one year, or both.

• § 2529. Enjoining use of counterfeits or imitations

  A person who has adopted and registered a trademark as aforesaid, may proceed by suit to enjoin the manufacture, use, display, or sale of any counterfeits or imitations thereof, and the Superior Court may grant injunctions to restrain such manufacture, use, display, or sale as may be by the said court deemed just and reasonable, and may require the defendants to pay to such person all profits derived from such wrongful manufacture, use, display, or sale; and such court may also order that any such counterfeits or imitations in the possession or under the control of any defendant in such case, be delivered to an officer of the court, or to the complainant, to be destroyed.

• § 2530. Violations

  Subject to the provisions of section 2532 of this title, no person shall knowingly and willfully:

  (1) falsely make, counterfeit, imitate, sell, offer for sale, or in any way utter or circulate any trademark that has been registered in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter;

  (2) affix to any article of merchandise a false or counterfeit or imitation trademark, or the genuine trademark of another that has been registered in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter, without the latter’s consent;

  (3) sell, keep, or offer for sale an article of merchandise, to which is affixed a false or counterfeit trademark, or the genuine trademark, or an imitation of the trademark of another that has been registered in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter, without the latter’s consent;

  (4) have in his or her possession a counterfeit trademark or a die, plate, brand, or other thing for the purpose of falsely making or counterfeiting a trademark that has been registered in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter; or

  (5) make or sell, or offer to sell or dispose of, or have in his or her possession with intent to sell or dispose of, an article of merchandise with a trademark that has been registered in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter by another, which indicates falsely the quantity, character, place of manufacture or production, or person manufacturing, producing, or sponsoring the article.

• § 2531. Penalties

  Subject to the provisions of section 2532 of this title, any person who violates any of the provisions of section 2530 of this title shall be fined not more than $500.00 or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both, and shall be liable to pay all damages sustained in consequence of such violation of section 2530, to be recovered by or on behalf of the party injured thereby, in a civil action on this statute.

• § 2532. Prior rights

  Nothing in this subchapter shall adversely affect the rights or the enforcement of rights in marks acquired in good faith at any time at common law. (Amended 2021, No. 20, § 26.)

• Subchapter 002: REGISTRATION OF NAME OR MARK FOR RECEPTACLES

• § 2571. Publication and registration of name or mark of owner

  A person or corporation engaged in buying, selling, or dealing in milk, cream, or nonintoxicating beverages in receptacles, or a licensed buyer, dealer in, or vendor of, intoxicating beverages, whose name, mark, or other device is produced in a permanent manner in or upon such receptacle, may file in the office of the clerk of the town in which his, her, or its principal place of business is situated, a description of the name, mark, or other device so used, and cause such description to be published in such town four weeks successively in a newspaper published therein. If a newspaper is not published therein, such publication shall be in a newspaper published in the county in which such town is situated.

• § 2572. Penalty for use of mark without consent of owner

  A person who, without the owner’s consent, buys, sells, takes, uses in his or her business, conceals, or disposes of a receptacle belonging to a person or corporation that has complied with the provisions of section 2571 of this title shall be imprisoned not more than 60 days or fined not more than $5.00, or both, for each such receptacle so unlawfully bought, sold, taken, used, concealed, or disposed of. For each subsequent offense, such person shall be imprisoned not more than six months or fined not more than $10.00, or both, for each such receptacle so unlawfully bought, sold, taken, used, concealed, or disposed of. The possession by a person in the transaction of his or her business of a receptacle, the owner of which has complied with the provisions of section 2571 of this title, shall be prima facie evidence that the same was unlawfully bought, sold, taken, used, concealed, or disposed of. (Amended 1981, No. 223 (Adj. Sess.), § 23.)

• § 2573. Mutilating receptacle or erasing name; penalty

  A person who willfully destroys, mutilates, or defaces a receptacle bearing the name or other device of an owner who has complied with the provisions of section 2571 of this title, or willfully erases, mars, covers, or changes a name or other device produced in a permanent manner in or upon such receptacle, shall be imprisoned not more than 60 days or fined not more than $5.00, or both, for each receptacle so destroyed, mutilated, or defaced, or upon which a name or other device has been erased, marred, covered, or changed. For each subsequent offense, he or she shall be imprisoned not more than six months or fined not more than $10.00, or both, for each receptacle so destroyed, mutilated, or defaced or upon which a name or other device has been erased, marred, covered, or changed. (Amended 1981, No. 223 (Adj. Sess.), § 23.)

• § 2574. Destroying or polluting butter crates or carriers; penalty

  A person who puts any unclean or foul matter into a receptacle, the owner of which has complied with the provisions of section 2571 of this title, or who mutilates, destroys, or pollutes a butter crate or carrier, shall be fined not more than $5.00 or less than $0.50 for each receptacle so defiled, mutilated, or destroyed, and, for each subsequent offense, shall be fined not more than $20.00 nor less than $2.00 for each receptacle so defiled, mutilated, or destroyed.

• § 2575. Search warrant; judicial proceedings

  If a person or corporation that has complied with the provisions of section 2571 of this title, or the agent of such person or corporation, makes oath before a judge of a Criminal Division of the Superior Court that he or she has reason to believe and does believe that a person has unlawfully in his or her possession or is secreting a receptacle marked as provided in section 2571 of this title, the judge, if satisfied that there is a reasonable cause for the belief, shall issue a search warrant to discover and obtain the same, and may cause to be brought before him or her a person in whose possession such receptacle is found, and shall inquire into the circumstances of the possession. If the judge finds that the person is guilty of a willful violation of a provision of sections 2572-2574 of this title, he or she shall impose the penalty prescribed therein, and award to the owner the possession of the property taken upon the search warrant. (Amended 1965, No. 194, § 10; 2009, No. 154, § 238.)