Who is the owner of the Epcon Communities trademarks?
Epcon_Communities Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
deration from your new entity with respect to the grant of these rights. The nature of the sublicense arrangement is described in Section 12.5 of the Franchise Agreement.
ITEM 13. TRADEMARKS
IP86, LLC ("IP86"), an Ohio limited liability company, was formed on July 15, 2013 and is an affiliate of ECFL. IP86 maintains its principal place of business at 500 Stonehenge Parkway, Dublin, Ohio 43017. On April 15, 2016, IP86 acquired all of the right, title and interest of Home Page, (disclosed in Item 1 of this disclosure document), in our intellectual property, including trade names, trademarks, service marks, logos, designs, trade dress, registered or unregistered, copyrights, registered or unregistered, and derivatives of the intellectual property and domain names.
Through a license agreement with Home Page that was assigned to IP86 on April 15, 2016, we have the right to use the Marks and to license to you the use of the Marks for use in the development of your project(s) in accordance with the terms of your Franchise Agreement. Because we are a successor to ECFI, pursuant to the license agreement, ECFI's rights under the license agreement to use and license franchisees the rights to use the Intellectual Property became our rights on December 31, 2019. Our license agreement with IP86 is in effect until December 31, 2025, and renews automatically for successive one (1) year periods, unless prior to the expiration of the term, we or IP86 gives the other party at least three (3) months prior written notice of termination. Additionally, the agreement may be terminated if: (1) we fail to pay royalty payments under the license agreement when they are due; (2) any of the following relating to bankruptcy occur: (i) we make an assignment for the benefit of creditors or enter into an arrangement with our creditors, (ii) a receiver, custodian, trustee or liquidator is appointed for us or for a material part of our properties, or proceedings are commenced seeking appointment of a receiver, custodian, trustee or liquidator and is not dismissed within 60 days, (iii) a voluntary bankruptcy petition is filed by us or on our behalf, (iv) we suffer an order for relief under federal bankruptcy law or apply for, consent to or authorize an application of any bankruptcy, reorganization, arrangement, readjustment of debt, insolvency, dissolution, liquidation or other similar law, or proceedings are commenced seeking an application and is not dismissed within sixty (60) days, (v) a material part of our properties are attached or subjected to a lien, which is not removed within sixty (60) days, (vi) we do not pay our debts as they become due, (vii) we conceal or remove a material part of our assets, with an intent to hinder or delay our creditors, or (viii) we transfer a material part of our property for the benefit of a creditor at a time when other similar creditors have not been paid, or (3) we fail to cure a default under the license agreement. Termination of the license agreement with IP86 will not materially alter your rights to use the trademarks.
The Marks listed below are subject to the license agreement and are registered on the Principal Register of United States Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO"). All Affidavits of Use currently required to be filed under the Lanham Trademark Act have been filed.
- Service Mark: "EPCON COMMUNITIES"
Services: Residential building construction services.
Registration Date: April 11, 2006 Registration No.: 3,079,215 Renewed on: March 16, 2016
2.
Source: Item 13 — TRADEMARKS (FDD pages 50–53)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Epcon Communities' 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, the owner of the trademarks is IP86, LLC ("IP86"), an Ohio limited liability company formed on July 15, 2013, and an affiliate of ECFL. IP86's principal place of business is located at 500 Stonehenge Parkway, Dublin, Ohio 43017. On April 15, 2016, IP86 acquired all rights, titles, and interests of Home Page in Epcon Communities' intellectual property, including trade names, trademarks, service marks, logos, designs, trade dress, registered or unregistered copyrights, and domain names.
Epcon Communities, through a license agreement with Home Page that was assigned to IP86 on April 15, 2016, has the right to use the Marks and to license franchisees to use the Marks for the development of their projects in accordance with the terms of the Franchise Agreement. Because Epcon Communities is a successor to ECFI, pursuant to the license agreement, ECFI's rights under the license agreement to use and license franchisees the rights to use the Intellectual Property became Epcon Communities' rights on December 31, 2019. The license agreement between Epcon Communities and IP86 is in effect until December 31, 2025, and renews automatically for successive one-year periods unless either party provides at least three months' prior written notice of termination.
Termination of the license agreement with IP86 will not materially alter a franchisee's rights to use the trademarks. Epcon Communities maintains a number of registered service marks, including "EPCON COMMUNITIES," "WHERE LIFE COMES TOGETHER," "ONE REMARKABLE EXPERIENCE," "EPCON," and "QUALITYMARK," among others. They also have service marks with pending applications, such as "COURTYARD HOMES". Epcon Communities does not have federal registration for the two principal trademarks listed above. Therefore, their trademarks do not have many legal benefits and rights as a federally-registered trademark. If their right to use the trademarks is challenged, a franchisee may have to change to an alternative trademark, which may increase their expenses.