Does Dog Haus have any pending patent or copyright applications that are material to the franchise?
Dog_Haus Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
We do not own any rights in or to any patents. There are no pending patent or copyright applications that are material to the franchise. We have no registered copyrights, but we claim copyright protection for the Manuals and all marketing material that may be distributed by us. We will loan you one copy of the Manuals for confidential use in the Franchised Restaurant. At our option, we may post some or all of the Manuals on a restricted website, intranet, or extranet to which you will have access. You may not disclose, publish, sell, show, or reproduce the Manuals and you must return the Manuals to us intact upon termination or expiration of your Franchise Agreement or Area Development Agreement.
We regard our recipes, our particular method of producing our sauces, and all the information contained in the Manuals, as proprietary and confidential information owned by us. You agree, as part of your Franchise Agreement, not to contest our exclusive ownership of the copyrights, trade secrets, recipes, processes, methods, procedures, formulae, techniques, and other proprietary information to which we claim exclusive rights. You are not given any rights in other trade secrets or proprietary or confidential information developed by us in the future. You must implement any reasonable procedures we may adopt to protect our trade secrets including restrictions on disclosures to your employees and requiring employees who will have access to our trade secrets to sign agreements containing non-disclosure and non-competition provisions in substantially the form of Exhibit F. None of the provisions in the Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreement are intended to prohibit or restrict any activity which prohibition or restriction violates your employees' rights to engage in protected concerted activity under the National Labor Relations Act.
There are no prior superior rights or infringing uses actually known to us that could materially affect your use of the copyrights, trade secrets, processes, methods, procedures, or other proprietary information described above. There are no agreements currently in effect that limit our rights to use or license the above-mentioned copyrights in any manner.
All ideas, concepts, techniques or materials you create while you are a Dog Haus franchisee, whether or not protectable intellectual property, must be promptly disclosed to us and will become our exclusive property and a part of Dog Haus franchise system as a work made for hire for us without compensation to you.
Source: Item 14 — PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS AND PROPRIETARY INFORMATION (FDD pages 60–61)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Dog Haus's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, Dog Haus does not own any patents, nor are there any pending patent or copyright applications that are material to the franchise. However, Dog Haus does claim copyright protection for its manuals and all marketing material that may be distributed by them.
Dog Haus will loan franchisees one copy of the manuals for confidential use in the franchised restaurant. Dog Haus may also post the manuals on a restricted website, intranet, or extranet. Franchisees cannot disclose, publish, sell, show, or reproduce the manuals and must return them upon termination or expiration of the Franchise Agreement or Area Development Agreement.
Dog Haus considers its recipes, methods of producing sauces, and all information in the manuals as proprietary and confidential. Franchisees agree not to contest Dog Haus's ownership of copyrights, trade secrets, recipes, processes, methods, procedures, formulae, techniques, and other proprietary information. Franchisees are not given any rights in other trade secrets or confidential information developed by Dog Haus in the future and must implement procedures to protect trade secrets, including employee non-disclosure and non-competition agreements.
There are no known prior superior rights or infringing uses that could materially affect a franchisee's use of the copyrights, trade secrets, processes, methods, procedures, or other proprietary information. All ideas, concepts, techniques, or materials created by a franchisee become Dog Haus's exclusive property and part of the Dog Haus franchise system as a work made for hire without compensation to the franchisee.