Franchise Law
Overview
Sotos LLP has been Canada’s leading firm in franchise law for more than 30 years. Whether you’re a franchisor, franchisee, or franchise association, our lawyers protect your business rights while promoting positive franchise relationships; in times of stress, and in times of success.
In a world where legal relationships are governed by contracts, franchisors want to protect their franchise investment and intellectual property, while doing all they can to promote positive franchise relations essential to their business success; without the costly negotiations that go along with every franchise sale. Whether you are starting a franchise business or are an experienced franchisor, our franchise lawyers are well-versed in every aspect of business and franchise law.
If you are a franchisee, or are thinking about becoming a franchisee, our franchise lawyers will effectively analyze business opportunities and help you make well-informed business decisions in order to avoid many of the common pitfalls associated with franchising. Our team will help you with reviewing and assessing the franchise disclosure document, dispute mediation and resolution, franchise agreements (negotiation, renewal, long-term implications), and much more.
Sotos LLP has helped structure and represent more franchisee associations than any other law firm in Canada. These specialized consulting projects have helped many associations play a key role in leading franchise cases and franchise fairness legislation.
At Sotos LLP, we view litigation as a last resort since our focus is on finding solutions that make good business sense. Through early dispute resolution, including mediation, we have a proven track-record of restoring that balance of power fairly, and effectively. But when all else fails, we litigate aggressively and we litigate to win by drawing on our cumulative resources and experience to pursue cases through trial and appeal.
When it comes to franchise law, we’re in the know.
Industry Leaders
John Sotos
Listed in the LEXPERT Directory, The Best Lawyers in Canada, International Who’s Who and Franchising World and more as one of the preeminent franchise lawyers in Canada.
Arthur Trebilcock
Listed as one of the leading franchise practitioners in The Best Lawyers in Canada, Who’s Who, and in the LEXPERT Directory every year since its inception.
Allan D.J. Dick
Listed in The Best Lawyers in Canada, Who’s Who, and the Canadian Legal LEXPERT Directory as a leading franchise litigation practitioner every year since its inception.
Peter Viitre
Listed in Who’s Who Legal: Canada 2011 and Best Lawyers 2012 as a leading Canadian franchise law practitioner.
Jean-Marc Leclerc
Eminent class-action litigator with broad experience defending franchise class actions.
Recent Blog Posts
The trouble with stair step incentives
John Sotos
Published April 23, 2013
Stair step incentive programmes are causing automotive dealers headaches and wreaking havoc on dealership networks—and factories can’t get enough of them.
Learn More
The myth of the ‘personal services contract’ in automotive dealer relations
David Sterns
Published April 5, 2013
For years, many automotive manufacturers sought to avoid franchise legislation in Canada by claiming that their dealership agreements were not franchises but rather ‘personal service contracts.’ The term ‘personal service contract’ refers to the fact that for each dealership there is a dealer principal who is personally responsible for the day-to-day operation and management of the dealership. This meant, according to the dogma in the automotive world, that franchise laws did not apply to the relationship between manufacturer and dealer.
Learn More
Should you trade-mark your logo, name, or both?
Stuart Freen
Published March 27, 2013
One of the first things people typically do when they come up with a new product or business idea is pick a name. They may go even further and start planning a logo, packaging and marketing. Each of these elements can potentially be protected by trade-mark registrations. The question is, what types of trade-marks are worth applying for? For instance, does it make sense to trade-mark your logo, your name, or both?
Learn More
Who does the tweeting? Developing a social media policy for franchise relationships
Shane Murphy
Published March 22, 2013
One of the key roles of the franchisor in any franchise system is to manage and develop its brand. The job of managing a brand has turned away from traditional forms of advertising such as billboards, flyers, and televisions commercials. Customers are now looking for information and interaction with businesses via social media. Most major franchise systems now promote themselves heavily on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Foursquare, to name just a few. Ignoring social media is simply not a viable option for any franchise system. But managing a social media strategy is a particularly complex task in the franchise context. Individual operators will naturally use social media to promote their businesses, but brand recognition depends upon uniformity and coherence in marketing efforts set by the franchisor.