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Wednesday, August 24th, 2011
The New York Franchise Law defines a franchise fee as any fee or charge that a franchisee or subfranchisor is required to pay or agrees to pay directly or indirectly for the right to enter into a business under a franchise agreement, or otherwise sell, resell or distribute goods, services, or franchises under such an agreement, including, but not limited to, any such payment for goods or services. The NY Franchise Law also contains several exclusions to the franchise fee definition, but no exemptions pertain to the purchase/sale of equipment. Rather, the exemptions to the NY law are nearly identical to the Maryland law.
The dollar threshold for a franchise fee under NY law is $500.
Like Maryland, the scope of the New York Franchise Law franchise fee definition is construed broadly. For example, a one-time fee or a monthly payment during a four-year period, which was characterized as a lease, was ruled a franchise fee.
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Tags: Buy a Franchise, buying a franchise, buying a franchised business, federal franchise law, franchise, franchise agreement, franchise arbitration, franchise attorney, franchise concept, Franchise Disclosure Document, franchise dispute, franchise fraud, franchise future royalties, franchise law, franchise law firm, franchise lawyer, franchise litigation, franchise purchase, franchise renewal, franchise transfer, franchise your business, franchisor dispute, FTC Franchise Rule, maryland franchise disclosure, Maryland franchise registration, New York Franchise Act, new york franchise disclosure, new york franchise law, new york franchise registration, selling a franchise
Wednesday, August 24th, 2011
The Maryland Franchise Registration and Disclosure Law (“MD Franchise Law”), Section 14-201, defines a franchise as “an oral or written agreement in which: 1) a purchaser is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan or system prescribed in substantial part by the franchisor; ii) the operation of the business under the marketing plan or system is associated substantially with the trademark, service mark, trade name, logotype, advertising or other commercial symbol that designates the franchisor or its affiliate; and iii) the purchaser must pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee.”
Section 14-201 of the MD Franchise Law goes on to define a franchise fee as a charge or payment that a franchisee or subfranchisor is required or agrees to pay for the right to enter into a business under a franchise agreement. The purchase of equipment is included in the definition of a franchise fee. Section 14-201 contains several exclusions from the definition of a franchise fee, but no exclusions for the purchase of equipment by a franchisee/licensee.
Many of the Maryland exclusions are limited to products-oriented licensors, as for the sale of goods at wholesale prices. Other exemptions are for the sale or lease of real property for use in the business, and any amounts paid for sales materials used in making sales, sold at no profit by the licensor. An additional exemption exists for the sale, at fair market value, of supplies or fixtures that are necessary in order to operate the business.
Section 14-203 of the MD Franchise Law sets the threshold amount for the franchise fee at any amount exceeding $100.
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Tags: Buy a Franchise, buying a franchise, buying a franchised business, federal franchise law, franchise, franchise agreement, franchise arbitration, franchise attorney, Franchise Disclosure Document, franchise dispute, franchise fraud, franchise future royalties, franchise law, franchise law firm, franchise lawyer, franchise litigation, franchise purchase, franchise renewal, franchise transfer, franchise your business, franchising or licensing, FTC Franchise Rule, licensing v. franchising, maryland franchise disclosure, Maryland franchise law, Maryland franchise registration, maryland fraud law, New York Franchise Act, selling a franchise
Wednesday, August 24th, 2011
A licensing or other relationship where the trademark and system/significant control prongs of the FTC Franchise Rule are met is excluded from the scope of the franchise regulation if the total required payments by the franchisee before and during the 6-month period after the business opens do not exceed $500.
The required fee element captures all sources of revenue paid by a licensee to a licensor for the license. The element is deliberately expansive, encompassing lump sum, installment, fixed, fluctuating, up-front, and periodic payments for goods or services, however denominated, whether direct, indirect, hidden, or refundable.
To avoid the FTC Rule franchise fee requirement, it is possible for a licensor to defer required payments exceeding $500 for at least six months, and as a result, not be deemed a franchise under the FTC Rule and federal law. This remains true even if the licensee signs a nonnegotiable, secured promissory note (with no acceleration clause) promising to pay the money after six months.
The deferment option is not all-encompassing however. While the FTC Rule permits this deferment of payment option, this is applicable only in those states that do not have individual, state specific franchise laws, since in those states such license transactions are governed by the FTC Rule. There are upwards of 15 states across the country, including Maryland, Virginia, New York, California, and Illinois, which do have specific franchise laws, and which do not grant this deferment option. As a result, deferment is not an option in these states. Have your franchise attorney check the franchise law of each individual state before proceeding.
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Tags: Buy a Franchise, buying a franchise, federal franchise law, franchise, franchise agreement, franchise arbitration, franchise attorney, Franchise Disclosure Document, franchise fee, franchise law, franchise law firm, franchise lawyer, franchise litigation, franchise renewal, franchise royalties, franchise transfer, franchise your business, franchisee, franchising or licensing, franchisor dispute, FTC Franchise Rule, licensing v. franchising, maryland franchise disclosure, Maryland franchise registration, maryland franchise registration and disclosure, maryland fraud law, new york franchise law, purchase a franchise, selling a franchise
Thursday, April 28th, 2011
An existing franchisee that sells his or her franchised business directly to a third party, without any significant contact with the franchisor does not need to abide by the federal franchise disclosure law, or any state franchise registration or disclosure law.
The FTC Franchise Rule states, directly from the FTC website found at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/franchise/bus70.pdf.
“Even if the franchisor has, and exercises, the right to approve or disapprove a subsequent sale (transfer) of a franchised unit, the transferee will not be entitled to receive disclosures unless the franchisor plays some more significant role in the sale. For example, if the franchisor provides financial performance information to the prospective transferee, the franchisor would be required to provide the transferee with its disclosure document.”
Likewise, in the case of an existing franchisee that purchases one or more additional outlets from the same franchisor for the same brand, the franchisor is not required to provide a disclosure document to such a franchisee exercising a right under the franchise agreement to establish any new outlets.
Finally, the franchisor is not required to provide a disclosure document to a franchisee who chooses to keep its existing outlet post-term either by extending its present franchise agreement or by entering into a new agreement, unless the new relationship is under terms and conditions materially different from the present agreement. In the case of a materially different franchise agreement, the franchisor must abide by state and federal franchise registration and disclosure laws.
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Tags: Buy a Franchise, buying a franchise, buying a franchised business, franchise, franchise agreement, franchise assignment, Franchise Disclosure Document, franchise dispute, franchise fraud, franchise law, franchise litigation, franchise purchase, franchise renewal, franchise transfer, franchise your business, FTC Franchise Rule, maryland franchise disclosure, maryland franchise registration and disclosure, purchase a franchise, sell your franchised business, selling a franchise
Wednesday, January 5th, 2011
In the recent case of JM Vidal, Inc. v. Texdis USA, Inc., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 93564 (S.D.N.Y. 2010), the New York District Court held that the New York Franchise Sales Act is inapplicable to the sale of franchises by a franchisor based in New York where the franchisee resides outside of New York and the franchised business is based outside of New York. In Vidal, a franchisee located in Washington State brought an action against a franchisor that was incorporated in Delaware and maintained its principal place of business in New York.
The franchisee alleged that the franchisor violated the New York Act by: (i) selling a franchise before it registered the UFOC; (ii) failing to timely deliver the UFOC at or before the initial meeting; and (iii) misrepresenting the estimated future earnings of the franchised unit, among other claims.
The Court dismissed the franchisee’s New York Act claim by holding that the New York Act is inapplicable and unavailable in an action by an out of state franchisee in a claim against a New York-based franchisor. The Court determined that the principal place of business of the franchisee is the essential element in the analysis – so that if the franchisee is not based in New York, then the New York Act is not applicable.
In making this determination, the Court relied on previous New York decisions, including Century Pac, Inc. v. Hilton Hotels Corp., 2004 U.S. Dist. Lexis 6904 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 21, 2004) and Mon-Shore Mgmt., Inc. v. Family Media, Inc., 584 F. Supp. 186 (S.D.N.Y. 1984). Vidal stated that “only the franchisee’s domicile matters for the purposes of determining whether the statute applies.”
This case should be reviewed carefully by Maryland franchisors and franchisees, and their lawyers, since the specific jurisdictional language of the New York Franchise Act that was at issue in this case is nearly identical to that contained in the Maryland Franchise Act.
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Tags: Buy a Franchise, federal franchise law, franchise, franchise agreement, franchise arbitration, franchise dispute, franchise law, franchise litigation, franchise royalties, franchise your business, franchisee, franchisor, FTC Franchise Rule, maryland franchise disclosure, Maryland franchise law, Maryland franchise registration, maryland franchise registration and disclosure, New York Franchise Act, new york franchise disclosure, new york franchise law, new york franchise registration, sell your franchised business, selling a franchise
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010
For those of you interested in franchising, see the below link from the Gazette newspaper. It is a recent article on the state of franchising in Maryland, specifically, how local restaurant franchise chains like California Tortilla, Buffalo Wings & Beer, and Wings to Go are contemplating expansion due to a rebounding economy.
http://www.gazette.net/stories/11252010/businew172254_32545.php
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Tags: Buy a Franchise, buying a franchise, buying a franchised business, federal franchise law, franchise, franchise agreement, franchise law, franchise litigation, franchise royalties, franchise your business, franchisee, franchisor, FTC Franchise Rule, purchase a franchise, sell your franchised business, selling a franchise
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
Questions
Every franchisee, before purchasing a franchise, receives from the franchisor a Federal Disclosure Document (“FDD”), which includes the franchise agreement that will eventually be executed by the franchisor and franchisee. This article contains five questions every franchisee should ask when reviewing a franchise agreement.
- Minimum Royalty Fees. Does the franchise agreement require the payment by the franchisee of minimum monthly or yearly royalty fees, regardless of the amount of actual revenue the franchisee generates? At the end of a month or year, a franchisee may have to write the franchisor a check to cover the minimum franchise fee if the royalty fee paid by the franchisee fell short of the minimum royalty fee called for in the franchise agreement. This is certainly a fact that all franchisees must be aware of prior to execution of the franchise agreement.
- Termination by Franchisee. Does the franchise agreement allow the franchisee to terminate the agreement without cause, or upon a material breach of the agreement by the franchisor? A franchisee’s right to terminate the franchise agreement is arguably the most important right granted to a franchisee, since a franchisee may be able to terminate an agreement if its business gets into financial trouble or if the franchisor fails to comply with its obligations under the franchise agreement. The right to terminate will also permit a distressed franchisee to avoid the fees and other obligations owed to the franchisor before disaster strikes.
- Post-Termination Non-Competition Covenant. Does the franchise agreement contain a post-termination covenant not-to-compete, and if so, is it reasonable? A post-termination covenant not-to-compete is the franchisor’s attempt to prohibit a franchisee from competing with the franchisor during the period immediately following termination or expiration of the franchise agreement. Courts across the country have held that in order to be enforceable, a non-competition covenant must be reasonable in scope and duration. In other words, a non-compete that prohibits competition for 10 years, or across the entire United States, will most likely be held unreasonable and therefore unenforceable. A franchisee must pay careful attention to the language of a non-compete prior to signing.
- Dispute Resolution. Carefully review the franchise agreement to determine exactly how and where disputes with the franchisor must be resolved. With regard to how, some franchise agreements call for arbitration, others litigation, and some a mix of both procedures. With regard to where, most franchise agreements call for dispute resolution in the home jurisdiction of the franchisor. Some but not all state laws allow the franchisee to sue or arbitrate in its home state, regardless of what the franchise agreement says. Because of the added expense a franchisee must bear in the event of a dispute being held in a place other than the franchisee’s home state, a franchisee whose state does not add such a protection must be aware of this fact and possibly add language allowing the franchisee to sue or arbitrate in its home state.
- Territory. Some franchise agreements grant a franchisee an “exclusive” territory. This means that the franchisee is protected from competition from other franchisees and the franchisor as well inside this exclusive territory. Most franchisees view a protected territory as a must, believing that such market protection will allow the franchisee’s business to flourish. With that in mind, read the “Territory” section carefully in order to determine exactly what is being granted. Can the franchisor compete with the franchisee in the territory? Are there development or sales quotas that must be met in order to retain exclusive territory status? Can supermarkets or other wholesalers compete with the franchisee? These and other questions must be answered to gain a complete understanding of the issue.
Interested in Learning More? Have Questions?
Contact Raymond McKenzie at 301-330-6790 or ray@mckenzie-legal.com
Posted in franchise law | 5 Responses »
Tags: franchise, franchisee
Raymond McKenzie is a corporate and franchise attorney in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
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