In 2006, Dunkin™ Brands Inc. was acquired by a consortium of private investors. One of the requirements of the acquisition is that Dunkin™ Brands Inc. increase protection of its intellectual property (IP) rights, which you as our licensees and franchisees share in. To this end, the company has created two new holding companies responsible for the protection of all trademarks globally. We have transferred all the legal documents for trademark ownership to the new holding companies.
What does this mean for your market?
This means a slight change. Effective immediately, Dunkin™ Brands, Inc. is requiring each licensee and franchisee to include a copyright notice referring to the new IP Holding company on all consumer communications and locally produced packaging.
The notice can be in either the lower left or right corner of printed material, depending on preferred design. For TV and cinema commercials, the notice must appear during at least the last 5 seconds of the commercial at the bottom of the screen. The notice must be shown in a typesize and typeface that is easily readable. The notice must contain the year in which the materials were created. For example, any material printed this year should show the year 2006. Here are the copyright notices to be used.
For Dunkin’ Donuts: © 2007 – 2014 DD IP Holder LLC. All rights reserved.
For Baskin-Robbins: © 2007 – 2014 BR IP Holder LLC. All rights reserved.
© 2007 – 2014 BR IP Holder LLC and DD IP Holder LLC, respectively. All rights reserved.
Consumer communication items include all in-store printed materials such as posters, counter cards, promotional translites and consumer handouts, as well as all external visual advertising like TV and cinema commercials, billboards, exterior banners, magazine and newspaper advertisements, coupons, etc. All market maintained Websites showing the Dunkin™ Donuts or Baskin-Robbins logos must also bear the notice.
Dunkin™ Brands has also begun placing the same copyright notices on all consumer packaging. On packaging imported from the USA, you will notice the IP Holder information located on the cups, bags, etc. Markets that are producing packaging locally should continue to submit samples for approval from the Legal Department. Please include the above copyright notice on the design. The location of the notice is flexible and will depend on the design.
Dunkin™ Brands has already begun the long process of registering the new logo in each of your countries around the world, including bilingual logos (e. g. English/Arabic). All markets must use the TM mark with the logo, until we receive confirmation of the registration for your market. Only then will you be able to use the Â® mark. Always locate the TM mark after the word “robbins”, never after the word “baskin”. The logo colors are the same as the existing logo colors, Pink: PMS 238, Blue: PMS 286. Always use the blue color for the TM mark. No changes in colors are acceptable. Markets may use black & white if necessary in print applications, but the preferred logo is in color.
Thank you for helping us to protect the intellectual property of our brands. Please direct any questions you may have about copyrights or trademarks to customerservice@dunkinbrands.com.