Who owns the copyrights to the Coffee News periodical?
Coffee_News Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
l provisions contained in this paragraph, and will be liable for damages, reasonable attorney fees and court cost if the Franchisor has to enforce their contractual rights by legal actions.
- 6.3. Copyrights. All title, including without limitation copyrights, in and to the Periodical, Operations Manual, Coffee News College training materials, marketing promotion materials, our license agreements, and all content that Licensor and/or its affiliate develop, either in hardcopy or digital format, and any copies thereof are owned by Franchisor and/or its affiliate. All title and intellectual property rights in and to the Periodical content which may be accessed through use of the Periodical and related services is the property of Franchisor and shall be protected by applicable copyright and other intellectual property laws. This Agreement grants no rights to Franchisee's customer to use the content without Franchisor's written consent.
7. OBLIGATIONS OF FRANCHISOR.
In addition to the other obligations in this Agreement, Franchisor has the following obligations:
7.1 Operations Manual. Franchisor shall provide to Franchisee an operations manual describing how to arrange the distribution of the Periodical within the region covered by this Agreement, how to sell advertising, how advertising in the Periodical operates and how to design such advertisements, how to determine the suggested pricing of advertising, and how to determine coverage areas. This manual also will include sample Filler ad Advertisements, office supply samples such as sample insertion orders, sample business cards, envelopes and monthly sales envelopes for use by Franchisee in producing its own supplies of such materials (The "Operations Manual").
- 7.2 Trade Information. Franchisor shall disclose to Franchisee the unique marketing and sales techniques employed in the design and format of the Periodical.
- 7.3 Periodical Holders and Other Products. Franchisor shall disclose the design of the Periodical holder if Franchisee desires to have such holders made locally and to allow the purchase of either Periodical holder labels or Periodical holders with labels attached from Franchisor preferred vendor, Darter Specialties, 514 Cornwall Avenue, P.O. Box 188, Cheshire, CT 06410 or other vendors to be named in the future.
- 7.4 Support Services. Franchisor shall provide Franchisee with support services as deemed reasonable and advisable by Franchisor. This could include but not be limited to telephone conferencing, a newsletter, business and marketing ideas, form and display rack samples, and other networking concepts as they develop in the future.
8.
Source: Item 23 — Receipts (FDD pages 36–118)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to the 2025 Coffee News Franchise Disclosure Document, the copyrights to the Coffee News periodical, Operations Manual, training materials, marketing materials, and license agreements are owned by the Franchisor and/or its affiliate. This ownership extends to both hardcopy and digital formats of the content.
This means that as a Coffee News franchisee, you are granted a license to use these materials, but you do not own them. The agreement explicitly states that your customers also do not have the right to use the content without Coffee News's written consent. This is a standard practice in franchising, where the franchisor retains control over its intellectual property to ensure brand consistency and quality.
Furthermore, the Franchise Agreement clarifies that all rights related to the "Coffee News" name and format are reserved by 2703203 Manitoba Inc., a corporation of the Province of Manitoba, Canada, and the Franchisor. Franchisees acknowledge the goodwill associated with the Coffee News name and agree that all usage of the name and format benefits the Franchisor and 2703203 Manitoba Inc. Franchisees are prohibited from attacking the title or rights of the Franchisor or 2703203 Manitoba Inc. to the "Coffee News" name or format.