Retailers and other businesses are increasingly looking to international markets, and particularly key emerging markets, such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China (the BRIC countries), for retail licensing opportunities. The possibility of leveraging a powerful domestic retail brand and product line in foreign markets offers potential opportunities to expand revenues during an economic downturn without substantial financial investment and transform a brand into an international icon, further increasing its value and potential returns as economies rebound. Indeed, one article has estimated that, during the next five years, the international franchise sector will grow at an annualized rate of 10%. Rod Young, “Global Trends in Franchising,” Oct. 22, 2007.
Contemporaneously with this growth in international licensing is a dramatic global expansion in the diversity and type of borderless media used by businesses to advertise and sell products to consumers, such as the Internet, mobile applications and social media (e.g., Facebook and Twitter). In addition, privacy, franchising, antitrust and intellectual property laws and regulations related to licensing, franchising, and sales and marketing of products are increasingly complex and divergent.
