Get Tenant’s Consent to Use Logos When Promoting Center

You can’t use any of the tenant’s trade names, trademarks, logos, and designs in your marketing materials unless you first get the tenant’s consent. Why? Because they are its “intellectual property.” And if the tenant decides to withhold its consent, or you never ask, but you print them in your marketing materials anyway, the tenant could sue you for trademark infringement.

To prevent that scenario, you’ll want to include a clause in the lease in which the tenant grants you a “trademark license”—that is, a special right to use a tenant’s trade names, trademark, designs, and logos in your marketing materials. And you’ll want that clause to include five specific protections.

For instance, your clause should state that the tenant is giving you the license to use its trade names, trademarks, logos, and designs on a royalty-free basis. That means you’re not required to pay the tenant any fees for getting the license. Your clause should also state that the license will be in effect for the entire lease—starting on the date the lease is signed—plus any extensions or renewals. You’ll then be able to add the tenant’s trade names, trademarks, logos, and designs to your marketing materials during that time without any problem.

For three more protections to include in your lease’s trademark license clause, as well as a model lease clause that includes all five protections, see “Get Consent from Tenant to Use Trademark and Logos to Your Benefit,” available to subscribers here.