What happens if the business's trademark is registered to the owner personally, not the company?

This is a common gap in owner-operated businesses, and it matters enormously depending on how you're structuring the deal. If you're buying the corporation's shares, a trademark registered to the owner personally simply doesn't come with the sale, since you're acquiring the corporation, not the individual's personal assets — the corporation may have been using the mark for years without ever actually owning it, and that gap doesn't close just because you now own the shares.

If you're buying assets, this is actually more manageable, since the trademark can be specifically identified and assigned to you as part of the deal, provided the seller is willing to include it and you catch the issue before closing rather than assuming trademark ownership follows "the business" automatically.

Either way, the fix is the same: confirm exactly who holds the registration (or has used the mark, if it's unregistered), and get a specific, written trademark assignment as a condition of closing rather than assuming brand ownership transfers along with everything else. Missing this can leave you owning a business that isn't legally entitled to use its own name and logo. A Treadstone business lawyer can help confirm ownership and paper the assignment.