Franchising

Franchising in the European Union Law

Concept of Franchising provided by the “Glossary of terms used in EU competition policy” (Antitrust and control of concentrations, published in 2002): A special type of agreement whereby one undertaking (the fran-chiser) grants to the other (the franchisee), in exchange for direct or indirect financial consideration, the right to exploit a package of industrial or intellectual property rights (franchise) for the purposes of producing and/or marketing specified types of goods and/or services. This package typically relates to trademarks, trade names, shop signs, utility models, designs, copyrights, know-how or patents. A franchise agreement usually contains obligations relating to (1) the use of a common name/shop sign and a uniform presentation of contract premises and/or means of transport, (2) the communication by the franchiser to the franchisee of know-how, (3) the continuing provi-sion by the franchiser to the franchisee of commercial and technical assistance during the life of the agreement.