Franchising

Franchising is a business method that involves the licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business. That can be chain stores, which are retail outlets which share a brand and central management, but also an exclusive right to sell branded merchandise. A similar case is a media franchise, the ownership of the characters and setting of a movie, video game, book, or toys etc., particularly in North American usage. Examples include Pokémon, Harry Potter or Barbie.