Family owned businesses and family run businesses are two separate things. Supporters of both factions support their side with different reasoning. However, one of the glaring problems of family owned businesses is the division of business upon succession from one generation to different members of the next generation. One of the biggest sufferers of such a rough shift is the Company’s brand image.
A case was presented in a court of the British Columbia province of Canada regarding two families fighting over a common name. The two companies are Bosa Development Corp. and Bosa Properties Inc., both of which are related. Both of these companies are operated by family members. The fathers of the owners of both the companies were brothers. They worked together before, one of them split and started Bosa Properties Inc.
Bosa Development Corp. claimed that Bosa Properties Inc. started functioning in the US and used a ‘Bosa Family Company’ entity. A domain name Bosa.com does show this entity. Among the many companies under the ‘Bosa Family Company’ is also listed Bosa Properties.
Apparently an agreement had been formed mutually by both companies to stop any usage of the ‘Bosa’ mark. Bosa Properties Inc. however, by establishing an entity that used the ‘Bosa’ mark, violated that agreement, according to the Bosa Development Corp.
When different individuals of a family tree receive their share of company’s assets, a question always arises as to who should keep the Company’s brand name. A clear agreement is naturally difficult to achieve. This results in the fragmentation of the Company’s brand by creation of new companies under a brand name that contains the parent company’s name along with some additional terms.
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