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Court Watch
Master Franchisor's Claim For Wrongful Termination Under the Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law Fails
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin held that a sandwich shop master franchisor, Brown Dog, Inc. ('Brown Dog'), failed to substantially comply with its agreement to meet its development quotas for opening new franchises despite being only one or two franchises behind in any given quarter. Therefore, the Quizno's Franchise Company's ('Quizno's') termination of the parties' agreement was lawful under the Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law (the 'WFDL'). Brown Dog, Inc., et al. v. The Quizno's Franchise Company LLC, BFG '13,229 (Dec. 27, 2005).
By way of background, the court noted that in 1992 Quizno's only had about 40 restaurants open, but at the time of the trial, Quizno's had about 4000 restaurants open worldwide. Although it had many underperforming master franchisors from 1994 to 2002, Quizno's made no concerted effort to force its master franchisors to meet their development quotas. But the explosive growth of the restaurant chain during the 1990s, coupled with a change in management in 2002, resulted in a policy change that favored enforcement of the development quotas.
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin
With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
Removing Restrictive Covenants In New York
In Rockwell v. Despart, the New York Supreme Court, Third Department, recently revisited a recurring question: When may a landowner seek judicial removal of a covenant restricting use of her land?