Franchising is the process of permitting others to use your brand, your operational techniques and products. It's about your brand and your brand is one of the major factors that defines your business success. That is why the protection of intellectual property (IP) is crucial. Here's why you should consider IP protection as one of the priorities when considering franchising your business in Australia.

What is Intellectual Property?

Business rights are things such as your business name, logo, product designs, and ways or methods you choose to perform things. It can also cover your website, adverts, and special recipes or formulas that you choose to present to customers. These are the features that you can hype on and set your business apart from the rest. If not protected, other people can imitate these elements to the detriment of your business.

Protecting Your Brand

Your brand is one of your most critical business resources. That is what the customers can identify and consequently are familiar with. Franchising involves giving the free right to others, the franchisees, to use your brand in their business. If left unguarded, somebody may leverage your brand in the wrong way, and this is a menace to your company. With proper protection of your IP, you are able to prescribe the conditions under which your brand is used to avoid dilution of the brand and losing its strength and reliability.

Avoiding Copycats

If your business is doing well, there are likely to be other entities that will wish to emulate what you are doing. Well, this is where IP protection comes in. Through IP protection you are safeguarding yourself from having others take advantage of you or your inventions and innovations. This is even more so when franchising because you are likely to be giving out many of your business secrets to the franchisees.

Licensing Your IP

Basically, franchising is packaging and selling the licence to use your IP to others. Franchisees then pay you for the utilisation of your brand and the business model that you put in place. In a situation where your IP is not well protected, there are risks that you might be in a directionless position in terms of utilisation of your IP. For instance, a franchisee may modify your emblem or even redesign your product and you did not even get a say. This could mislead the customers and in the process, your brand will be compromised. Through IP protection you are assured that franchisees adhere to the set standards. It maintains the uniformity of your brand.

Legal Protection, and Peace of Mind

Holding your IP also provides legal rights for you. If for instance, someone is using your invented symbol, logo or idea; you can go to court to have him/her cease. It relieves you of anxiety in that you are sure that your business properties are safe. If your IP is protected you do not have to waste your time and energy worrying about other people taking your ‘hard-earned' ideas.

Franchising your business in Australia requires that you protect your intellectual property as much as possible. It protects your brand, avoids imitators and ensures that you stay afloat. When you have done all that is required to safeguard your IP, you can proceed with franchising your business without concerns about proprietary rights. Having proved your concept work to be successful as an original outlet, make certain that IP protection is a priority. It is such a beneficial venture because it opens up an outlet for future prospects of the business.

Author Bio - The author of this article has created numerous successful franchises. With this article he wanted to make the readers aware about the importance of IP protection for franchise businesses.