October 2009

Franchise & Business Law Group has moved its offices from downtown Baltimore to Baltimore County, near the county seat of Towson. This relocation of the firm’s office to 1447 York Road provides more space for growth, and the location is close to the offices of other professional advisors as well as the Baltimore Beltway (I-695). Come visit us when you are in the Towson area!

PERSPECTIVES...from the desk of David Cahn

Below we provide a summary of a conference I recently attended and some Recent Articles that we thought you might be interested in reading. Clicking the "Read More" link will take you to our blog so that you may read the entire article:

Health Care Dominates IFA Public Affairs Conference

On September 15 I attended the International Franchise Association’s 10th Annual Public Affairs Conference in Washington, D.C., and was privileged to be selected as a team captain for the group of IFA members from Maryland who attended meetings at the offices of our U.S. Senators and Representatives. I was pleased to be able to arrange for one of Maryland’s Senators, Benjamin L. Cardin, to participate in our meeting for about 25 minutes. Senator Cardin provided us with tremendous insight into the ongoing Congressional debate on health insurance reform and his personal views on the subject, which I interpreted to be supportive of a more moderate reform along the lines supported by Senator Baucus.

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Beyond the Contract: Protecting Rights in Intellectual Property
Jeffrey S. Fabian

A franchisor’s intellectual property rights can be some of its most valuable assets. Indeed, and for service-based franchise systems in particular, the franchisor’s intellectual property can be the vast majority, if not sum total, of the value of the franchise. Therefore, it is critical for franchisors to protect the value of their intellectual property, not only through careful drafting in their franchise agreements, but through ongoing proactive protective measures as well.

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The “Litigation Hold” and the Importance of Electronic Document Retention

As email and text-messaging have become standard means of communication in the business world, issues relating to document retention are more and more complex. When you become aware of a lawsuit filed against your company, or when you are exchanging heated telephone calls or e-mails and think a lawsuit might occur, it is critical for you to take measured steps to ensure that all relevant electronic documents and communications are preserved. Failure to preserve documents, and to comprehensively and timely comply with an opposing party’s discovery requests, can lead to both monetary and non-monetary sanctions. Non-monetary sanctions, which may include an instruction to the jury to make an adverse presumption based on your improper failure to produce requested documents, can have a substantial and devastating impact on your ability to pursue or defend against a lawsuit.

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Working with Consultants to Select a Franchise Opportunity
David L. Cahn and Jeffrey S. Fabian

While most ordinary consumers can rattle off the most famous franchised brands, there are hundreds of smaller brands with promising franchise systems struggling to reach and identify prospective franchisees. For entrepreneurs looking to invest their life savings—and more—what resources are available to assist in the process of selecting a franchise that best matches their resources and aspirations?

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