What happens to the Customer Data rights and licenses granted to the Aerus franchisee upon expiration or termination of the Franchise Agreement?
Aerus Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
All rights and licenses granted pursuant to this Section or otherwise in this Agreement concerning the Customer Data shall automatically terminate upon the expiration or termination of this Agreement, and Franchisee shall promptly thereafter return to Company 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 Company.
Nothing in this Agreement gives Franchisee any right in or to any of the Customer Data except as specifically set forth in this Agreement.
Source: Item 23 — Receipts (FDD pages 74–305)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Aerus's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, all rights and licenses to the Customer Data automatically terminate upon the expiration or termination of the Franchise Agreement. The franchisee must promptly return to Aerus any printed or virtual material containing the Customer Data. Aerus retains all rights to and goodwill in the Customer Data.
This means that when the franchise agreement ends, whether through expiration of the term or termination for any reason, the franchisee loses all rights to use the customer database. This includes any information about customers within the franchisee's Area of Responsibility that Aerus provided. The franchisee is legally obligated to return all physical and electronic copies of this data to Aerus.
This provision is fairly standard in franchising, as the customer data is considered a valuable asset of the franchisor. It prevents franchisees from using the brand's customer information to start a competing business or otherwise benefit from the brand's reputation after the franchise agreement ends. Prospective franchisees should understand that building a customer base during the term of their agreement does not translate to ownership of that customer data after the agreement concludes.