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ARTICLE · 07 DECEMBER 2018

A Franchisor Loses Title To Its Network's Logo!

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In the bulletin titled Practical Tips for Maximizing the Value of Your Portfolio of Intangible Assets, published on September 11, 2018 ...

CanadaIntellectual Property
Jean H. Gagnon
Jean H. Gagnon
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In the bulletin titled Practical Tips for Maximizing the Value of Your Portfolio of Intangible Assets, published on September 11, 2018, we noted: "In most cases, the first owner of the copyright is the person who wrote or created the protected work. This means that when a franchisor assigns the task of producing a work that could be copyright protected to a services provider (such as a designer or an advertising agency), the first owner of the copyright may very well be the person retained by the franchisor, unless there is an agreement providing that copyright is assigned to the franchisor."

An Ontario franchisor, Milano Pizza Ltd. (whose network now has 35 pizzerias in the Ottawa region and eastern Ontario) has had the misfortune to discover the practical impact of this legal principle.

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