What is an Aerus franchisee required to do with any printed or virtual material containing Customer Data upon termination of the Franchise Agreement?
Aerus Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
All such rights and licenses will automatically terminate upon the expiration or termination of the Franchise Agreement, and you must then return to us any printed or virtual item or material containing or bearing any of the Customer Data. All rights to and goodwill in the Customer Data are solely and exclusively the property of us. Nothing in the Franchise Agreement gives you any right in or to any of the Customer Data, except as specifically provided in the Franchise Agreement.
Source: Item 14 — Patents, Copyrights, and Proprietary Information (FDD pages 51–53)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Aerus's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, upon the expiration or termination of the Franchise Agreement, a franchisee must return to Aerus any printed or virtual item or material containing or bearing any of the Customer Data. Aerus retains all rights to and goodwill in the Customer Data, and the Franchise Agreement does not grant the franchisee any rights to it, except as specifically provided in the agreement.
This means that when an Aerus franchise agreement ends, the franchisee loses all rights to use the customer data and must give back all physical and digital materials containing this data to Aerus. This is a standard practice in franchising, as customer data is often considered a valuable asset owned by the franchisor.
Prospective franchisees should understand that they will not be able to take any customer information with them if they leave the Aerus system. This could impact their ability to start a similar business independently after the franchise agreement terminates. It is important to carefully consider the implications of this requirement before investing in an Aerus franchise.