Chapter 4: Intellectual Property

The economic foundation of franchising is built on brand names and the public's perception of quality and uniformity associated with those indicators. The brand is the figurehead but, to deliver the services that keep it as the gateway to profit, there are the other work horses of intellectual property (IP) – copyright, by the provision of clear methodologies to follow, know-how in delivery, trade secrets in differentiation. These are the main supporting acts though, registered designs and their overlap with copyright is often important. Occasional roles are played by patents and the other more esoteric forms of IP.

Complementing all of the above is information technology in delivery, marketing and information exchange.