I see this "if you don't defend your trademark, you lose it" trope a lot on the Web these days, generally with the implication that the trademark holder has no

I see this "if you don't defend your trademark, you lose it" trope a lot on the Web these days, generally with the implication that the trademark holder has no option other than to engage in legal threats or action. Couldn't the trademark holder in these situations simply license the mark to the other side, for some nominal fee? Same for the Jack Daniels case. The book cover is probably fair use through parody, but even so, Daniels could simply license it to the author and request that the next printing have "the cover design is a trademark of Jack Daniels Properties, Inc.".