About Communer
Communer is an online marketplace where you can buy and sell registered U.S. trademarks.
Strict Seller Ownership Verification
Communer uses a strict verification process to confirm that every trademark listed on our marketplace is owned by the person who listed it on our marketplace.
The most common method involves contacting the USPTO’s listed correspondent for the trademark registration and confirming that the owner actually applied to list their trademark on Communer. Alternatively, we review a trademark’s web specimen in the public record and confirm that our seller controls the domain name cited in the official record.
Validated and Appraised U.S. Trademark Registrations
Communer reviews every trademark listing to ensure that it is a live, registered trademark in good standing with the USPTO.
Funds Held Securely in Escrow
Communer holds the buyer’s funds in escrow while the transaction is in process. Communer doesn’t release the funds to the seller until the buyer legally owns the trademark. Communer will hold the funds for an additional 14 days after the transfer to ensure that everything goes right.
Valid Trademark Assignment Agreement Created and Executed
Communer doesn’t leave it up to the buyer and seller to figure out their contract. As soon as the purchase is initiated by the buyer, Communer generates a valid trademark assignment agreement that will be sent to both parties for e-signature. This assignment agreement will be legal, binding, and ready for submission to the USPTO. We can also record the trademark transfer with the USPTO if the buyer wants.
Founded by an attorney to facilitate secure and simple trademark sales.
For Trademark Buyers:
Real Brands for Sale
At Communer, we have brands for sale, not just domain names. Don’t buy a “brand name” from a domain name marketplace only to find out that you can’t legally use it. Buy a registered trademark, knowing that you’re buying the legal right to use a brand name.
Instant Purchase
No price negotiations, no contract review. You know what you’re getting, and how much you’ll be paying.
Curated and Appraised by Experts
We don’t let sellers list just any trademark on our website. We curate submissions to maintain the quality of our trademark exchange.
More importantly, we appraise the trademarks submitted to our marketplace, only letting sellers list trademarks for prices that are within a certain range of our valuation for the trademark.
No Lower Prices Elsewhere
Communer listings are exclusive, meaning you won’t be able to get our trademarks at a lower price on other marketplaces. You also won’t be able to get a lower price by contacting the owner of the trademark directly. The owner of the trademark is bound to the price of the trademark listed on Communer.
Because there is also no negotiation involved, the price you see on Communer is the best price at which you can get that trademark. You can purchase your trademark knowing that you’re not missing out on a lower price.
For Trademark Sellers:
Free Advertising
Communer is more than a trademark exchange. It’s a trademark broker. Once we list your trademark, we promote it to thousands of likely buyers through Google Ads, affiliate agencies and firms, mailing lists, social media, and other channels.
No Upfront Costs
Communer only makes money if you make money. We do not charge a listing fee; only a sale commission.
Free Trademark Valuation
After you submit your trademark registration to our trademark exchange and we verify that you own it, we’ll give you a free valuation for your trademark based on our extensive knowledge and experience with trademarks.
You can then list your trademark registration on Communer for a price within a certain range of our valuation, or you can choose not to list your trademark with Communer at all.
No Haggling or Negotiation
Buyers will not be able to try to get you to bring your price down. The price they see on Communer is the price they’re going to get. This saves you time and stress, while keeping your outcome predictable.
For Both Sellers and Buyers:
Safe Transaction: Funds Held Securely
Communer will hold the purchase funds securely until the trademark assignment agreement is signed by both parties. Once the contract is signed and the ownership change is legal, the funds will be released to the seller.
Communer Generates the Trademark Transfer Agreement
Communer will generate a valid trademark assignment agreement, using language that will make the trademark transfer valid as soon as both parties sign. The language of the agreement will be recognized by the USPTO as changing the ownership of the identified trademark.
To the right is a preview of the standard trademark assignment template Communer uses, which has been submitted dozens of times to the USPTO with a 100% success rate. If a domain name is included in the listing, then it will also be included in the trademark assignment agreement.
Frequently Asked Questions
How soon will I be the legal owner of the trademark after I pay for it?
Most of our buyers become the new legal owner of the trademark within three days of paying for it. Shortly after payment is made, Communer generates a trademark assignment agreement for e-signature by both the buyer and seller. When both parties e-sign, the buyer is now the legal owner of the trademark.
As the buyer, you may want to record your assignment with the USPTO. This process does not change the legal owner, but it updates the ownership records in the public trademark database. The assignment recordation process usually takes about one month for the USPTO process, though it can take more like two months if complications arise. Once the assignment recordation process is complete, the USPTO will update the listed owner in its TESS search engine and its TSDR trademark records shortly after.
The buyer can usually file the assignment recordation themselves using the USPTO's Electronic Trademark Assignment System (ETAS) for $40. If you'd prefer to have an attorney to file it on your behalf, our partner firm JPG Legal can file the assignment recordation for $250 including the filing fee for one trademark, plus an additional $50 per trademark for additional trademarks transferred in the same deal. For example, if you bought a name trademark and a logo trademark together and you want to record both assignments, the total cost for record the assignment of both trademarks will be $300 including filing fees.
After you purchase a trademark on Communer, we'll give you next steps on how to have the assignment recorded if you're unsure how to do it on your own.
Does the buyer or seller need to file anything with the trademark office after a trademark purchase?
The seller does not need to file anything.
Most buyers will want to record their trademark assignment with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) after they purchase a trademark on Communer. The assignment recordation process enters the ownership transfer into the public record and updates the trademark's listed owner in the publicly searchable trademark database.
The buyer can usually file the assignment recordation themselves using the USPTO's Electronic Trademark Assignment System (ETAS) for $40. If you'd prefer to have an attorney to file it on your behalf, our partner firm JPG Legal can file the assignment recordation for $250 including the filing fee for one trademark, plus an additional $50 per trademark for additional trademarks transferred in the same deal. For example, if you bought a name trademark and a logo trademark together and you want to record both assignments, the total cost for record the assignment of both trademarks will be $300 including filing fees.
After you purchase a trademark on Communer, we'll give you next steps on how to have the assignment recorded if you're unsure how to do it on your own.
How fast can I get Amazon Brand Registry access if I buy a trademark on Communer?
Around half of Communer's buyers are Amazon sellers, so we make the Amazon Brand Registry process as quick and reliable as possible. Our buyers typically gain Amazon Brand Registry access within one week of paying for their trademark.
Once the buyer and seller both e-sign the trademark assignment agreement generated by Communer, the buyer can apply for Amazon Brand Registry using that trademark's registration number. Amazon will send a verification code to the seller, which the seller is then required to forward to the buyer in a timely manner as stated in the assignment agreements we generate.
As long as you apply for Amazon Brand Registry within one week of buying your trademark, the seller will not receive their money until you gain Amazon Brand Registry access. This ensures that the seller will do everything possible to give you access to Amazon Brand Registry as soon as possible.
Communer cannot control the actions of Amazon and thus we cannot guarantee that Amazon will grant the buyer Brand Registry access, but all trademarks we sell should be eligible for Amazon Brand Registry as long as they're not on the Supplemental Register. Very few Communer trademarks are on the Supplemental Register (as of this writing, none are). When trademarks are on the Supplemental Register, we warn you of that in the listing.
Do I need to renew my trademark after I buy it? When do I need to renew it? How?
Yes, once you buy a trademark, you are responsible for filing timely renewals. Make sure to track your trademark renewal deadline(s).
To see the next renewal deadlines for a trademark listed on Communer, just click the link at the top of the listing that takes you to the USPTO's Trademark Status and Document Retrieval (TSDR). Then click the "Maintenance" tab and you'll see the next renewal deadline.
For more details about the trademark renewal process and how to check when the next renewal is due, check out this blog post written by one of our cofounders.
If your renewal deadline is coming up and you want an attorney to handle it for you, our partner law firm offers competitive rates for renewals. You can use this form to hire them for your next renewal.
What does Markhound® Appraisal mean?
The Markhound® Appraisal is our estimate of how much a brand is worth. Markhound® incorporates Communer’s proprietary sales data, trademark details, market trends, our AI-powered marketability score, and additional brand assets such as domain name or social media handles.
As of May 15th, 2023, every new listing will feature the Markhound® Appraisal near the listing price.
Commune with Your Target Audience Preferred Investors Future Customers Prospective Clients .
Communer® is a marketplace for various intangible goods including U.S. trademark registrations, domain names, legal document templates, and legal guides. Trademark attorney Jeremy Green Eche founded Communer because many of his clients needed to buy or sell trademarks, but they had no good way to do this.
While practicing trademark law, Eche saw many trademark owners give up on the idea of finding buyers for their trademarks, resigning themselves to letting their trademarks expire. He also saw many entrepreneurs in need of immediate trademark ownership who were forced to spend a year or more waiting for their trademark applications reach registration, assuming they weren’t rejected outright.
Eche decided to make a marketplace where people can buy and sell registered trademarks as easily as they can buy and sell domain names. As a trademark attorney, online business owner, and former domain name investor, he figured he had as good a chance of succeeding at this goal as anybody.
Communer's Founders
Jeremy Peter Green Eche ("Jeremy Eche" for short)
Jeremy Eche graduated from Northwestern Law on a full tuition scholarship and is the attorney of record for over 3,000 registered trademarks. He founded and grew a high-volume trademark law firm, JPG Legal®, from $12,000 revenue in 2016 to $1.85 million in 2020. Jeremy’s firm, originally his solo practice and still fully owned by him, employs multiple legal professionals and handles about 100 trademark filings a month. He is a self-taught software developer as well.
Jeremy writes a branding and growth blog called Ask a Jewish Lawyer®, and a mailing list on the same topic with over 4,500 subscribers. Before he was a trademark attorney, he was a domain name investor. He bought ClintonKaine.com in 2010 for $8, promoted it by posting his own comics and fanfiction on it, and sold it in 2016 for $15,000. Eche enjoys drawing and inking comics, including all of the illustrations on Communer.
He is a member of the National Lawyers Guild, the South Brooklyn branch of NYC DSA, and the LGBT Bar Association of New York. He formerly served as General Counsel for Teamsters Local 922. Eche lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife Stephanie, their toddler, and their cats Quíque and Bibi. He is a native English speaker who is conversational in Spanish. He is also a licensed New York real estate broker.
Stephanie Eche
Stephanie Eche is a graduate of the University of Southern California. She has helped multiple startups grow and has been through two successful IPOs. As a product developer at BetaBrand, she generated a large amount of press coverage with her attention-grabbing creations including the Executive Hoodie and the Sweatpant Dress Pant. At EdTech startup 2U, she worked in marketing leading up to their IPO, later becoming their Brand Manager for Corporate Affairs. Her work as the Placemaking Manager for Vornado and its Washington, DC spinout, JBG SMITH, helped lead to Amazon’s decision to establish its HQ2 at JBG SMITH’s properties in National Landing, Northern Virginia.
Stephanie is a Mexican-American artist with roots in Arizona. She creates sculptures and paintings to investigate her mestizo heritage and explore her transition into motherhood. She is the founder of Distill Creative and hosts the First Coat podcast, where she interviews artists working in public space. She lives in Brooklyn with her family, as detailed above. She is better at Spanish than Jeremy, but not a native speaker.
Email Address: info@communer.com
Phone: (917) 512-8758
Mailing Address:
Communer
157 13th Street, Suite 111
Brooklyn, NY 11215