Franchise Agreement

A Franchise Agreement is a legal, binding contract between a franchisor and franchisee, enforced in the United States at the State level.

Prior to a franchisee signing a contract, the US Federal Trade Commission regulates information disclosures under the authority of The Franchise Rule. The Franchise Rule requires a franchisee be supplied a Uniform Franchise Offering Circular (UFOC ) or Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD ) prior to signing a franchise agreement, a minimum of ten days before signing a franchise agreement.

Once the Federal ten day waiting period has passed, the Franchise Agreement becomes a State level jurisdiction document. Each state has unique laws regarding franchise agreements.

A franchise agreement contents can vary in content depending upon the franchise system, the state jurisdiction of the franchisor, franchisee, and arbitrator.

A typical franchise agreement contains

  • Uniform Franchise Offering Circular (UFOC)or FDD Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD)
  • Disclosures required by state laws
  • Parties defined in the agreement
  • Recitals, such as Ownership of System, and Objectives of Parties
  • Definitions, such as
Agreement, Territory Area, Area Licensee, Authorized deductions, Gross Receipts, License Network, The System Manual, Trademarks, Start Date, Trade name, Termination, Transfer of license.
  • Licensed Rights, such as
Territory, Rights Reserved, Term and Renewal, Minimum Performance Standard
  • Franchisors Services, such as
Administration, Collections and Billing, Consultation, Marketing, Manual, Training
  • Franchisee Payments, such as
Initial License Fee, Training Fees, Marketing Fund, Royalties, Renewal fee, and Transfer fee
  • Franchisee Obligations, such as
Use of Trademarks, Financial Information, Insurance, Financial and Legal responsibility
  • Relationship of Parties, such as
Confidentiality, Indemnification, Non-Compete
  • Transfer of License, such as
Consent of franchisor, Termination of license, Termination by licensee, Termination by licensee
  • Other provisions
  • Governing law
  • Amendments
  • Waivers
  • Arbitration
  • Severability

Famous quotes containing the words franchise and/or agreement:

    “To-day women constitute the only class of sane people excluded from the franchise ...”
    —Mary Putnam Jacobi (1842–1906)

    “Truth cannot be defined or tested by agreement with ‘the world’; for not only do truths differ for different worlds but the nature of agreement between a world apart from it is notoriously nebulous. Rather—speaking loosely and without trying to answer either Pilate’s question or Tarski’s—a version is to be taken to be true when it offends no unyielding beliefs and none of its own precepts.”
    —Nelson Goodman (b. 1906)