When a Large corporation closes but

[Lance Uppercut]

the small local franchise lives on, just who owns everything?

I just had this thought while watching that Blockbuster documentary and thinking about other business that I thought died but still has like 5 locations still up somehow.

I mean, does that one block buster in Oregon officially has the legal rights to call themselves blockbuster and use all their stuff? Or does it still have to take orders from Direct tv or whoever owns it now?

If I owned the Last Radio shack, and the parent company is long dead, but my store is still up and running and profitable, do I own radio shack?

[Paul]

May 2, 2023 23:51:51 GMT -5 Lance Uppercut said:

the small local franchise lives on, just who owns everything?

I just had this thought while watching that Blockbuster documentary and thinking about other business that I thought died but still has like 5 locations still up somehow.

I mean, does that one block buster in Oregon officially has the legal rights to call themselves blockbuster and use all their stuff? Or does it still have to take orders from Direct tv or whoever owns it now?

If I owned the Last Radio shack, and the parent company is long dead, but my store is still up and running and profitable, do I own radio shack?

It's complicated and depends on the terms of the contract you signed, and the actual status of the parent company.

As I understand it, the last Blockbuster store licenses the name Blockbuster from the company that owns it (Viacom) because they (the store owners) find it profitable to keep operating the store under the name "Blockbuster". But tomorrow they could decide to stop paying Viacom, remove all the Blockbuster signage and put up new signage calling the store "Super Star Video Store" or whatever. Viacom could decide tomorrow that the store is no longer allowed to use the name "Blockbuster" and tell them to remove the Blockbuster branding but I doubt they particularly care as long as the payments clear.

In these cases where a national chain really does go defunct, it's really just cheaper and less risky to simply re-name your store instead of using the dead brand because you never know if or when that dead store brand will be sold and re-aquired by someone new who could then sue you for using their trademarks and logos without permission.

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

I just ate at a Bennigans. I didn't think they still existed. Apparently there are still 11 locations left in the US.