Franchising
From America to Asia, a whole host of products and services from hamburgers to car rental and services are sold through franchised businesses.

A franchise is essentially a contractual licence from a franchisor permitting its selected franchisee to carry on a business using the franchisor's intellectual property rights such as its trade name as well as its business method. A successful franchise arrangement that benefits both the franchisor and franchisee very much depends on the legal framework of the franchise agreement, which delineates the relationship between the franchisor and franchisee by stipulating their respective rights and obligations.

A franchise agreement principally:

•	allows the franchisor to exercise control over the way in which the franchisee operates the franchise business hence uniformity is maintain among all franchise outlets;
•	requires the franchisor to provide the franchisee with technical, organisational and management assistance in addition to advertising and instructional materials;
•	requires the franchisee to pay a royalty to the franchisor;
•	regulates the franchisee's use of the trade or service mark under which the goods and services are offered.

The franchise vehicle has been a valuable tool for companies to expand, market and distribute new products and services quickly and efficiently, and at a modest capital outlay. Conversely, franchising offers to the entrepreneur the independence of owning a business and also the benefit of association with a proven business method.

It is important for legal advice to be sought before entering into a franchise agreement as proper and thorough pre-contract investigations may save all parties the hassle and high cost of litigation in the future.

Registration of franchises is compulsory in some countries.

Licensing
Licensing is more narrowly delineated than franchising. Like franchising, licensing also deals with the right to use a bundle of intellectual property rights such as copyright, registered designs, trade secrets and confidential information.

However, licensing, unlike franchising, does not involve the licensing of the whole business system. For example, the licensor does not provide the licensee with technical, organisational and management assistance for sale of goods or services in question.

The licensing arrangement involves only the regulation of the right to use a particular intellectual property which is given by the owner of the right (licensor) to a user (licensee).

Licenses may be general or limited, exclusive or non-exclusive. The nature of the licence depends upon the type of intellectual property which is the subject of the licence.

For example, a trade mark licence may deal with the type and quality of goods upon which the mark may be applied, a copyright licence with the right to reproduce a particular work in a specific mode and a patent licence with the extent to which a patent may be exploited.

A licence may involve a spectrum of issues, hence it is imperative that legal advice be sought in order that both licensor and licensee strike the harmonious balance of obtaining a commercially workable agreement while safeguarding legal rights.