UNITED KINGDOM – LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS  Domino’s Pizza Domino’s was, until recently, the “darling” of the UK fast food sector. Its franchisees’ profits were increasing, outlets were being opened at regular intervals and there was so much competition to become a Domino’s Pizza franchisee that generally franchises were only offered to existing successful franchisees. Recent bad … More The Franchise Law Blog – Tenth Edition

Receiving the top award in international franchising – the John Baer Award – before an audience of nearly 900 franchise lawyers at the American Bar Association’s Franchise Forum, was as delightful as it was surprising. The award was presented by Eric Karp, the current Chair of the Franchise Forum – see the enclosed photo. Receipt … More The Franchise Law Blog – Ninth Edition

First, I apologise for the delay in publishing this latest blog – a combination of a very busy time and not many interesting developments. We now have enough to list in the blog, some of which I hope will be of interest to you. EU Domain Names On 28 March 2018 the European Commission issued … More The Franchise Law Blog – Eighth Edition

Caspian Pizza Limited v Mr Shah [2017] EWCA Civ 1874, 2017 WL 05632399 The Court of Appeal handed down judgment at the end of November in relation to a dispute between a franchisor and an ex franchisee which highlights the dangers of failing to enter into properly drafted franchise agreements.  The franchisor had started to … More The Franchise Law Blog – Seventh Edition

  Europe’s Top Franchise Lawyer is ….. I am delighted to report that Who’s Who Legal in its September analysis of franchise lawyers rated me as their top franchise lawyer in Europe. Unusually, Who’s Who Legal have undertaken thorough research and not simply relied on information provided by firms’ marketing departments – thankfully, because we … More The Franchise Law Blog – Sixth Edition

Will franchise agreements be interpreted unfavourably to franchisors? In the very recent decision of Persimmon Homes Ltd v Ove Arup [2017] EWCA Civ 373, the Court of Appeal confirmed that the contra proferentem rule now had a very limited role in relation to commercial contracts negotiated between parties of equal bargaining power.  That rule should … More The Franchise Law Blog – Fifth Edition

Burger King – Too clever by half Burger King recently produced an advertisement with an employee holding a Whopper explaining that 15 seconds isn’t enough time to describe how brilliant the burger is and so the employee turns to the camera and says, “ok Google, what is the Whopper Burger”.  The statement triggers, and presumably … More The Franchise Law Blog – Fourth Edition

Interpretation of Clauses in Franchise Agreements Franchise agreements are inherently lengthy and detailed commercial contracts giving rise to frequent disputes as to what a clause does or does not mean.  How English courts are to interpret contractual provisions was authoritatively set out by the House of Lords in Investors Compensation Scheme Limited v West Bromwich … More The Franchise Law Blog – Third Edition

British Franchise Association (“bfa”), International Franchise Symposium, March 2017 I participated at the bfa’s International Franchise Symposium in London at the end of last week.  The presentations were of an unbelievably high standard with inspiring key note addresses from Aziz Hashim, a franchisee who became Chairman of the International Franchise Association and Paul Thompson, founder … More The Franchise Law Blog – Second Edition

This is the first Franchise Law Blog. We will issue further blogs on a monthly basis. The focus of the blog is principally to draw attention to UK legal developments that affect franchising, but also to alert readers to commercial developments relating to franchising in the UK and to highlight important international developments that would … More The Franchise Law Blog – First Edition