ABSTRACT
There is no specific legal definition of a franchise. The concept of franchising is a business format that is licensed to a franchisee by the franchisor. The franchisee pays for the use of an established business format and associated intellectual property rights (for example the latter’s name, reputation and get-up), which is usually controlled and supervised by the franchisors. The advantage to the franchisee is that s/he does not have to reinvent the wheel and the franchise network usually helps to reduce the risk of business failure. The public also benefit in that they come to recognise and associate the franchise trade names with a certain quality of product of service. Successful franchised businesses include well-known enterprises such as Thornton’s chocolatiers, the Bodyshop, McDonald’s, Starbucks, etc.
