“Goodwill” (or “good will”, it’s written both ways) refers to a consumer’s positive opinion of a product or service and their willingness to purchase it again in the future or to refer it to a friend or colleague. If you like Starbucks coffee, the product can be said to have goodwill. Goodwill and trademarks are inseparable. This is a legal fact: the Lanham Act, which is the Federal law that governs trademarks, states that a trademark can only be sold or transferred (“assigned”) “with the good will of the business in which the mark is used, or with that part…
