Franchising Expo 2009 Wrap Up

Over the weekend of 12 and 13 September 2009, Cooper Grace Ward was proud to host the Legal Advice Centre at the 2009 Brisbane Franchising Expo.

The Expo offered a perfect platform for the Australian franchising industry to showcase its vast range of opportunities. We were pleased to be a part of the Expo.

Throughout the Expo our legal practitioners spoke with many franchisors and franchisees and from those discussions we gained a renewed understanding of the legal needs and concerns of the franchising industry.

The most common issues raised by visitors to the Legal Advice Centre were:

restraints imposed on the franchisee from competing with the franchise system during and after the term of a franchise agreement;
how exclusive territories operate in a franchise system and how the allocation of referrals within exclusive territories is managed to avoid conflict between franchisees;
strategies to assist both the franchisor and franchisee when a franchisee wishes to exit the franchise system; and
how the money in a marketing fund can be used by the franchisor and under what circumstances are payments into these funds recoverable by the franchisee.

Cooper Grace Ward has a dedicated team of lawyers who specialise in franchising. If you have queries on these or other franchising issues, please contact a member of our franchising industry group on 07 3231 2444.