Franchise & Licensing

1. Is there a legal definition of a franchise and, if so, what is it?

Russian law does not operate the term "franchise". Instead, the term "commercial concession" is used and provided in the local law to define the relationship of the parties concerning franchising.

According to Article 1027 of the Russian Civil Code, under the contract of commercial concession one party (rights holder) shall grant the other party (user), for a compensation and for a definite or indefinite term, the right to use in the business of the user a set of intellectual property (IP) rights owned by the rights holder, including trademark rights, service mark rights, and other intellectual property rights, in particular, trade name, secret of production (know-how).