Does a Clear Pest Pros franchisee receive the right to use any item covered by a patent?
Clear_Pest_Pros Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
You do not receive the right to use any item covered by a patent. There are no pending patent applications that are material to the franchise. We do not own any registered copyrights which are material to the franchise; however, we claim copyrights in the Operations Manuals, System Standards, advertising materials, Clear Pest Pros CRM, business forms, videos, CDs and other printed and advertising material used in operating the System. We have not registered these copyrights with the United States Registrar of Copyrights. You must use these items only in the way we specify and only while operating your Clear Pest Pros Business. You must comply if we require you to modify or discontinue using material of any of our copyrights and in such an event, we are not obligated to compensate you.
Source: Item 14 — PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS, AND PROPRIETARY INFORMATION (FDD pages 55–56)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Clear Pest Pros's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, franchisees do not receive the right to use any item covered by a patent. The FDD also states that there are no pending patent applications that are material to the franchise. This means a prospective franchisee will not be able to utilize any patented technology or products as part of their Clear Pest Pros franchise.
While Clear Pest Pros does not grant rights to patented items, it does claim copyrights to various operational and marketing materials. These include Operations Manuals, System Standards, advertising materials, the Clear Pest Pros CRM, business forms, videos, CDs, and other printed and advertising material used in operating the Clear Pest Pros system. Franchisees are required to use these copyrighted items only as specified by Clear Pest Pros and only while operating their Clear Pest Pros business.
Clear Pest Pros retains the right to require franchisees to modify or discontinue using any copyrighted material, and in such cases, Clear Pest Pros is not obligated to provide any compensation to the franchisee. Franchisees are also obligated to promptly inform Clear Pest Pros of any unauthorized use of their proprietary information. However, Clear Pest Pros is not obligated to take any action in response to such information but will respond as they deem appropriate. This means that Clear Pest Pros maintains control over its intellectual property and can make changes to the materials franchisees use, which could impact how they operate their business.