Brand Awards in Lebanese Franchising: Rules for Their Use

When you turn an established business in Lebanon into a franchise, the awards you have won may be an important part of your brand’s appeal. But moving the phrase ‘award-winning’ from your shopfront to a franchise proposal or an advert for a new branch is more than a design decision. An award may belong to a particular person, product or business. Making that distinction clear protects your credibility within the franchise community and prevents a specific achievement from being presented as recognition of the entire network.

Distinguish between awards for the founder, the product and the business

Lebanese Decision No. 2385 of 17 January 1924 on commercial and industrial property rights contains specific provisions on awards. Article 95 states that anyone using an industrial or commercial award must specify its type, identify the exhibition certificate or official authority that granted it, and give the exact date it was awarded.

Article 96 distinguishes between recipients. Where an award is granted to someone in a personal capacity, that person alone has the right to benefit from it and cannot transfer it to another party along with their business. An award granted to a product may be transferred with that product. When a business is transferred, the transferee may benefit from an award associated with it, subject to the provisions of that article.

Do not, therefore, treat a franchise agreement as a transfer of the business or an automatic transfer of its awards. If the founder has won a personal award, opening a franchisee-operated branch does not make that franchisee an award winner. If an award relates to a specific product, do not broaden the claim to cover every product and service.

Start by classifying each achievement you want to use:

• A personal award in the name of the founder or a team member.
• An award for a specific product, documenting its version or characteristics where relevant.
• An award for the business or a particular location.
• A private rating or certification whose issuing body’s terms need to be reviewed, rather than automatically treating it as an official award.

Build an evidence file before preparing your franchise proposal

A photograph of a trophy or an old social media post is not enough to establish what an award covers. Create a file for each award containing the original certificate or a reliable copy, the recipient’s name as recorded, the awarding body, the date, the category, and the product or business concerned. Include the conditions governing use of the award’s name and logo, along with any correspondence explaining the limits of that use.

Turn these files into a simple internal register. For each award, record the approved advertising wording, the permitted channels and the person responsible for reviewing its use. If the awarding body’s terms include a time limit or require prior approval, record this clearly. Do not assume that the right to mention a win also gives you the right to reproduce the awarding body’s logo.

For example, ‘Our specified product won an award on a specified date’ is more accurate than ‘All our branches are award-winning’ when the certificate relates only to that product. If the award belongs to the founder, attribute it explicitly to them, without suggesting that the franchisee received the same recognition.

Before offering the franchise, test every claim with a practical question: can a prospective franchisee tell who won, what they won it for, when they won and who granted the award, without further verbal explanation? If not, rewrite it.

Set out the rules of use in the franchise agreement

Lebanon has no comprehensive franchise-specific law or general franchise-specific regime requiring a standard pre-contractual disclosure document. The relationship is governed by general rules, including the Code of Obligations and Contracts and the Commercial Code, with intellectual property and consumer protection provisions applying as relevant. The absence of a dedicated disclosure template does not justify inaccurate claims about awards.

The agreement should make clear that permission to use the brand does not automatically give the franchisee the right to use every award or logo associated with the founder. Attach a list of approved materials, specifying the limits of the licence and any approvals required from the relevant parties.

The contractual rules should answer clear questions: who approves advertising? Can the description of an award be shortened? Is it permitted on a branch’s local page? Who pays to withdraw and reprint non-compliant advertising? Also specify a procedure for suspending use when the validity of a claim is challenged, without assuming that the franchisor’s approval can remedy any gap in its own underlying rights.

These are suggested contractual safeguards, not clauses required by a franchise-specific law. Review them with a Lebanese lawyer, particularly where an award is personal or the awarding body’s terms are unclear.

Monitor day-to-day advertising

Give franchisees ready-to-use materials rather than leaving them to rewrite the claim. Supply the approved wording, permitted design and award details that must be displayed. Apply the same rule to menus, packaging, social media pages and proposals aimed at recruiting new franchisees.

When reviewing an advert, assess its overall message, not just its wording. The text may be accurate, but placing a trophy beside a photograph of a new branch could suggest that the branch itself won. Review advertising when a product changes, an award-winning employee leaves or the terms of use change, so that claims which are no longer appropriate do not remain in circulation.

Practical takeaway: Before using any award in franchising, link it to a clearly identified recipient, supporting documentation and approved wording. Then give branches permission with clearly defined limits, rather than blanket permission to draw on the brand’s entire history.