What must an Apricot Lane franchisee do with any Innovations related to the Apricot Lane store?
Apricot_Lane Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
All ideas, concepts, techniques or materials relating to an Apricot Lane Store (collectively, "Innovations"), whether or not protectable intellectual property and whether created by or for you or your owners, employees or contractors, must be promptly disclosed to COUNTRY VISIONS and is COUNTRY VISIONS' sole and exclusive property, part of the System, and works made-for-hire for COUNTRY VISIONS. To the extent any Innovation does not qualify as a work made-for-hire for COUNTRY VISIONS, you assign ownership of that Innovation, and all related rights to that Innovation, to COUNTRY VISIONS and agrees to sign whatever assignment or other documents COUNTRY VISIONS requests to evidence COUNTRY VISIONS' ownership or to help COUNTRY VISIONS obtain intellectual property rights in the Innovation. COUNTY VISIONS and its affiliates have no obligation to make any payments to you or any other person with respect to any Innovations. You may not use any Innovation in operating your Store or otherwise without our prior approval.
Source: Item 14 — PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS AND PROPRIETARY INFORMATION (FDD pages 33–34)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to the 2025 Apricot Lane FDD, any ideas, concepts, techniques, or materials related to the Apricot Lane store, referred to as "Innovations," must be promptly disclosed to COUNTRY VISIONS. This applies whether or not these innovations are protectable intellectual property and regardless of who created them, including the franchisee, their owners, employees, or contractors.
The FDD states that all Innovations are the sole and exclusive property of COUNTRY VISIONS, considered part of the Apricot Lane system, and classified as works made-for-hire for COUNTRY VISIONS. If an Innovation does not legally qualify as a work made-for-hire, the franchisee must assign ownership and all related rights to COUNTRY VISIONS. The franchisee also agrees to sign any documents COUNTRY VISIONS requests to evidence their ownership or to help them obtain intellectual property rights for the Innovation.
COUNTRY VISIONS and its affiliates are not obligated to provide any payment or compensation to the franchisee or anyone else for these Innovations. Furthermore, franchisees are prohibited from using any Innovation in their Apricot Lane store or otherwise without prior approval from COUNTRY VISIONS. This means that while franchisees are expected to contribute their ideas, they relinquish all rights to those ideas and cannot implement them without the franchisor's consent.