Delimitação e proteção jurídica do know-how nos contratos de franquia a partir da visão baseada em conhecimento

Abstract

The transfer of know-how is the central element of a business franchise relationship. Know-how can be defined as a type of singular knowledge built from the franchisor's experience, it is a practical and procedural type of knowledge. Know-how is not subject to registration and is difficult to define, but it is the main strategic resource for competitiveness in franchising. Based on this, this work aims to evaluate the possibilities of protection provided by the Brazilian legal system in relation to knowledge, in particular the know-how, generated within the scope of franchise relationships, since the franchise contracting and, also, throughout the course of the relationship. It seeks to direct a different view to research related to the protection of know-how using the Knowledge Based View as a theoretical basis and promoting a case study with Brazilian franchising companies. In summary, the main findings of the research are related to the proposition of tools that aim to protect know-how. The proposed tools may have contractual nature, within the scope of confidentiality and non-competition clauses, and non-contractual nature, within the scope of other measures that go beyond franchise contracts and that can be adopted by franchisors in order to protect their know-how.