Is Surestay Hotel By Best Western obligated to protect or defend its copyrights?

According to the 2025 FDD, Surestay Hotel By Best Western does not have an obligation to protect or defend its copyrights. While Surestay Hotel By Best Western claims copyrights in its manual, advertising, marketing materials, and similar items, it has not registered these copyrights with the United States Copyright Office, though it states that it is not required to do so to protect them.

Surestay Hotel By Best Western states that it "need not protect or defend copyrights, although we intend to do so if in the best interests of the System or all or some System Hotel franchisees, as we solely determine." This means that the company reserves the right to decide whether or not to take action against copyright infringement based on its own assessment of what benefits the franchise system as a whole.

Furthermore, Surestay Hotel By Best Western retains control over any legal action it chooses to pursue, even if a franchisee brings the matter to their attention. The company is also not obligated to participate in a franchisee's defense or provide indemnification for damages or expenses in any legal proceeding involving a copyright. This indicates that franchisees bear the risk and cost of defending themselves in copyright-related legal matters.

In practical terms, this means a Surestay Hotel By Best Western franchisee cannot rely on the franchisor to take action against copyright infringers or to defend them in copyright lawsuits. A prospective franchisee should consider this carefully and factor in the potential costs and risks associated with protecting their use of the franchisor's copyrighted materials.