As business franchise plan becomes the preferred expansion mode for many SME's it is important to realise that in today's knowledge driven economy, businesses can no longer rely only on physical assets but must also build on other aspects of their business such as branding, marketing, their business processes and also the value of Intellectual property.

By recognising that the intellectual property (IP) of your business or franchise business is important, you not only protect your business from pitfalls, but can potentially reap profits when your IP is well managed, protected, licensed or sold. This is especially true of the franchise business format which is becoming increasingly the chosen mode of expansion for successful businesses. When the IP of a brand is not carefully protected in its country of origin and beyond, there is reason to worry that the originator of the brand in question may not actually have rights to the use of its own brand name especially if the brand name has been previously trademarked by another party.

?Businesses spend untold amounts of marketing dollars on building their brand names to distinguish their products from others,? said principal consultant, Hsien Naidu, of business consulting and management consulting firm ? Astreem Corporation. ?It makes good sense to invest in their brand names by trade marking them rather than exposing themselves to furious back paddling when faced with possibility of losing the rights to use their brand names.? The business consulting firm operates as the core partner for businesses planning to grow their business investments through franchise opportunities. The firm consists of franchise consultants, business consultants, branding consultants and marketing consultants who strongly support on the importance of intellectual property protection.