I have now asked the right questions of the right people re Nr Neil's original post. I am satisfied that everything is in order and I'll explain why.
For myself, I was concerned about the possibility of a franchise situation, similar to that described by Neil, being set up on the UK mainland, leading to MY license being cancelled. This will never happen, so I feel secure. The arrangement in Northern Ireland is fundamentally different to here. The current legally binding arrangement was established before Dry Fusion UK was formed and by a different company and management. There are subtle differences in the English and NI marketplaces.
Dry Fusion UK will not permit another business in my area to become a licensee. Exactly the same as in Neil's situation. I presume that the same applies for franchises such as ChemDry, Servicemaster etc. etc.
Dry Fusion IS NOT a franchise. After completing the training requirements etc. a few years ago, I paid my one off fee of £50 to obtain my Dry Fusion License. No other fees, in any shape or form, have ever been paid. This license permits me to use the Dry Fusion name and logo which are both registered marks. You cannot legally use them unless you are licensed, just as a franchisee, be it ChemDry, McDonalds etc. etc. is granted a license to use those brand names. End the franchise and you can no longer use the name. This is a common and successful business arrangement across the whole spectrum of business life.
A not too dissimilar situation arose a few years ago. I was a member of The Host Professional Cleaners Association and attended an intense training course at their HQ in Racine. They were adamant that we should NEVER use the word Host as a verb. ie to Host clean a carpet. Their (legitimate) concern was that their brand name could become corrupted and then used to describe any form of Dry Powder Extraction Cleaning. Inferior products and systems would then become generally known and accepted as Host, thereby leading to a devaluation of the original brands identity. How many people after all these years will "Hoover" a carpet with a Panasonic machine, or wrap a parcel with Sellotape etc. etc. I percieve that a similar situation could have arisen with Dry Fusion being used as a term for all generic bonnet/pad cleaning. After all, we never "Alltec", "Ninja", or "Hydramaster" a carpet or suite, so there is no issue for HWE systems. Likewise with shampoo, encap etc. etc.
To be honest, I disagree with Dry Fusion's stand on not granting more than one license per area, but I fully understand and accept their reasons for doing so. Speaking yesterday to Shaun Bradbury, he told me that there are quite a few cleaners who have Dry Fusion machines, are not licensees, so use consumables from other sources. He doesn't have a problem with this and, subject to normal business terms, has no problem either with service/repair of their machines.
I feel sorry for Neil's circumstances. His only options left open are to utilise the machine with different brands of conumables, or sell up and try something else. For now, I suspect the most cost efficient course left open to him is to keep it and not use the Dry Fusion name or logo. If he was based close to me, exactly the same conditions would apply.
Safe and happy cleaning
Ken