Upon termination of the Cinnabon Franchise Agreement, what must a franchisee immediately cease using, including marks, symbols, and domain names?
Cinnabon Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
emedies After Your Default) will not (i) be a defense for you to our enforcement of any other provision of this Agreement or waive or release you from any of your other obligations under this Agreement, (ii) be a defense at law or equity based on impossibility of your performance or any claim against us or our Approved Suppliers. (iii) constitute an actual or constructive termination of this Agreement, or (iv) be our sole or exclusive remedy for your default. You must continue to pay all fees and otherwise comply with all of your obligations under this Agreement following our exercise of any of these rights. If we exercise any of our rights under Section 17.5, we may thereafter terminate this Agreement without providing you any additional corrective or cure period, unless the default giving rise to our right to terminate this Agreement has been cured to our reasonable satisfaction.
18. OBLIGATIONS ON EXPIRATION OR TERMINATION
- 18.1 General Obligations. On expiration or termination of this Agreement for any reason, you must:
- A. Immediately cease using the System, including the Marks and any confusingly similar names, marks, commercial symbols, systems, insignia, symbols, color schemes, trade dress, designs, procedures, domain names, and methods. If you fail or refuse to make changes to the Franchised Business required to distinguish the Franchised Business from its former appearance, we have the right, in addition to all other remedies, to enter the Accepted Location and make the required changes on your behalf, and you must pay to us all costs and expenses we or our affiliates incur in making the changes, including interest from the date of demand, plus an administrative fee in an amount equal to 15% of the costs and expenses that we or our affiliates incur.
- B. Immediately return to us: (i) all hard copies and electronic copies (capable of being returned) of the Confidential Information and Trade Secrets, including the Manuals, together with
all copies of any of them;
Source: Item 23 — Receipts (FDD pages 114–399)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to the 2025 Cinnabon Franchise Disclosure Document, upon termination of the Franchise Agreement for any reason, a franchisee must immediately cease using the Cinnabon system. This includes the Marks and any confusingly similar names, marks, commercial symbols, systems, insignia, symbols, color schemes, trade dress, designs, procedures, domain names, and methods. The franchisee must make required changes to the Franchised Business to distinguish it from its former appearance. If the franchisee fails to do so, Cinnabon has the right to enter the location and make the changes on the franchisee's behalf, with the franchisee responsible for all associated costs, expenses, interest, and an administrative fee equal to 15% of the incurred costs and expenses.
Additionally, the franchisee must immediately stop identifying themselves as a current or former Cinnabon franchisee. They are also obligated to comply with the restrictive covenants outlined in Section 15, which pertains to Confidential Information and Restrictive Covenants.
Furthermore, the franchisee is required to take immediate action to cancel all assumed name registrations related to the use of Cinnabon's Marks. They must also cancel or transfer to Cinnabon all authorized and unauthorized domain names, social media accounts, telephone numbers, post office boxes, and classified and other directory listings related to the Franchised Business or the Marks, collectively referred to as "Identifiers." Cinnabon retains sole rights to these Identifiers, and failure to comply allows Cinnabon to act as the franchisee's attorney-in-fact to direct the transfer of these Identifiers.