Welcome to Franchise Law Day 2022!

Business owners today are faced with near constant turbulence, from market fluctuations to new technologies to global turmoil, all evolving at a rapid pace. Franchised systems and their counsel are finding themselves rising to innovate and adapt to these shifts and trends. We invite you to join us—live and in person!—Thursday, September 22 from 8:45 am to 4:30 pm at the Old Mill Inn and Spa in Toronto, for the 2022 CFA Law Day: Adapting and Growing in New Market Realities.

Whether you’re a new or established franchisor, a solid understanding of the Canadian franchise law issues that affect your business is imperative to protect your rights and limit your liabilities. This information session will get you up to speed through a fast-paced review of the highlights from the past year in franchise law and legislation. Beyond understanding the relevant laws, you also need to stay on top of any changes and emerging issues that can impact your franchise business. The Canadian Franchise Association (CFA) works with all levels of government to protect franchising and ensure the best possible outcome for all stakeholders. This session will provide an update on the key issues affecting the Canadian and Quebec franchise rules and regulations.

Learn about key recent decisions that are essential to understanding if, when and how you can use injunctions to protect your business.

In this session, we will explore: 

•    The key elements of obtaining injunctions to enforce your contractual agreements; 
•    Recent court decisions regarding franchise-related injunctions and how they impact the existing legal landscape. 
•    Practical tips to improve your chance of success on injunctions by way of contract drafting and evidence preparation. 

Advising a franchisor for an eventual exit is different from regular advice with respect to the franchising program. It requires deep understanding of the client’s operations, which will likely result in (re)structuring to maximize the disposition value of the system.

Structuring (or restructuring) in preparation for eventual exit/investment can pay huge dividends for the vendors. A robust corporate structure, solid legal documentation along with a strong corporate team and first rate information systems, where everyone is making money, will attract strategic and financial purchasers offering high valuations. As a franchise lawyer, learn the key building blocks that will put your franchisor clients in the best position when they decide to divest.

Growth of a franchise network in the province of Quebec is offering some challenges for Canadian franchisors from time to time.

In addition to a different legal system and the absence of specific laws on franchising, the adoption of, or modification to a number of laws in the province of Quebec during the last year has brought its share of questions and concerns for franchisors already established in the province or wishing to develop their network.

In this session we will navigate through the updates and recent developments relating to the Charter of the French Language since the assent of Bill 96 in June 2022, and we will highlight the new requirements arising from An Act to modernize legislative provisions as regards the protection of personal information (Bill 64 - Act 25), some provisions of which come into force in September 22, 2022.

Learning highlights:

• Translation requirements of contracts and other material;
• Obligations relating to display of trademarks on signage and products and language of commerce and business;
• Franchisor’s obligations versus Franchisee’s obligation under the Charter of the French Language;
• Obligations relating to the appointment of a privacy officer, reporting obligations in case of confidentiality incident, privacy impact assessment and right to communicate without consent when concluding a commercial transaction.
   

The panel will provide practical business and legal considerations for expanding into these markets via franchising, including: a brief synopsis of the franchise industry in each jurisdiction (hot industries, trends, challenges, hot topics), key legal/regulatory requirements (franchise disclosure, registrations, preparing franchise agreements, ancillary and other core legal and operating documents, compliance with local laws etc...) to establish, operate and grow a franchise business in each jurisdiction, and best practice tips to adopt and traps to avoid for successful market entry and expansion for franchising in Canada.

This session will focus on the practical lessons we have learned over the last two years as well as best practices for franchise disclosure compliance with recent case law moving forward. It will focus on two basic questions with difficult answers: (1) How should we be disclosing? (2) What should we be disclosing

Session includes implications of the various market forces now faced including Supply Chain disruptions, inflation, soaring fuel and food costs and the Ukrainian war, such as: 

• Franchisee Self-help in buying outside of system or amending offering
• Monitoring and enforcement rights/considerations.
• Managing regional disparities
• Options for Franchisor support/subsidization
• Systemic change

A conversation about building future forward teams through a culture of diversity, inclusion and belonging. Walk away with insights on how you can further the diversity, inclusion and belonging journey at your franchise organizations.

Join Faye Pang, Xero Country Manager and Matthew Coons, Xero’s Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Lead for a conversation about building future forward teams through a culture of diversity, inclusion and belonging. Walk away with insights on how you can further the diversity, inclusion and belonging journey at your organization.

Franchise disputes can happen, and when they do it may be difficult to know how to navigate. In this roundtable, participants will learn how franchisors can resolve disputes with franchisees quickly and efficiently without court proceedings, including by business means, mediation or arbitration.

The fireside chat will provide an introduction to the Metaverse, particularly as it intersects with franchising and intellectual property protections. Starting from the basics, the concepts of the metaverse, blockchain, cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will be articulated. Building on that foundation, the discussion will then focus on how those concepts intersect with the franchising world, including a discussion on protecting and enforcing IP rights in the Metaverse.

Highlights:

• Detailed walkthrough of the basic concepts.
• Disputes and litigation in the Metaverse 
• Enforcement in the Metaverse