Forbes reports on a dispute surrounding the AGFA PHOTO trade mark. Agfa Photo is now insolvent, and is selling its plants. However, those interested in buying the plants will only purchase if they also obtain rights to the trade mark. However, the AGFA PHOTO trade mark is in the hands of a private investor, Hartmut Emans, following a deal designed to secure jobs at Agfa Photo. Emans is reportedly asking for somewhere between 10 and 20 million euros for the trade mark. Agfa-Gevaert, the previous parent company of Agfa Photo has expressed its displeasure, saying that the point of giving Emans the mark was to secure jobs at the plants. If the sale of the plants falls through, those jobs will be endangered.
The IPKat says that this goes to show the sticky sort of problems that can arise where trade marks are sold independently of the goodwill in the business that has used them.