| Mark | Serial Number for Registration | Application Type | Application Date | |---|---|---|---| | | Application Filed with USPTO Application | | | | Simplify Your Hive | 98961227 | 1(a) | January 14, 2025 | | 99290452 | 99290452 | 1(a) | July 18, 2025 | On July 15, 2025, the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued an Office Action for the pending trademark application for "Simplify Your Hive" citing a likelihood of confusion with U.S. Registration Nos. 5240979 and 4991950. We are currently reviewing the cited registrations and intends to file a response to the Office Action.

There are no currently effective material determinations of the USPTO, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and/or the trademark administrator in any state or any court; no pending infringement, opposition or cancellation proceedings; and no pending litigation involving the Licensed Marks. We know of no superior rights or infringing uses that could materially affect your use of the Licensed Marks or other related rights in any state.

You are required to provide us with written notice of any claims that you may become aware of respecting the Licensed Marks, including your use of the Licensed Marks and/or any claim associated with a third party's use of a trademark that is identical or confusingly similar to the Licensed Marks. We maintain the exclusive discretion to take any and all actions, or to refrain from any action, that we believe to be appropriate in response to any trademark infringement, challenge or claim. As between us, we possess the sole right to exclusively control any and all litigation, legal proceedings, administrative proceedings and/or settlement(s) involving any actual or alleged infringement, challenge or claim relating to the Licensed Marks. You must sign all documents, instruments and agreements and undertake the actions that we, with the advice of our legal counsel, determine to be necessary or advisable for the protection and/or maintenance of our interests in the Licensed Marks in any legal proceeding, administrative proceeding or as may be otherwise determined by us. As to the foregoing, we will reimburse you for the reasonable out-of-pocket administrative expenses that you incur and pay in complying with our written instructions.

We will protect your right to use the Licensed Marks and other related rights and protect you against claims of infringement and unfair competition related to the Licensed Marks, provided that you use the Licensed Marks in accordance with the terms of your Franchise Agreement, as designated by us in the Manuals, and otherwise, as we instruct you. We will indemnify you against direct damages for trademark infringement in a proceeding arising out of your use of the Licensed Marks, provided your use of the Licensed Marks comply with the terms of your Franchise Agreement, the Manuals, our written instructions, and that you have timely notified us of the claim, have given us sole control of the defense and settlement of the claim, and you are in compliance with your Franchise

Agreement. If we defend the claim, we have no obligation to indemnify or reimburse you with respect to any fees or disbursements of any attorney that you retain.

If any third party establishes, to our satisfaction and in our sole discretion, that its rights to the marks are, for any legal reason, superior to any of our rights, then we will modify and/or replace the Licensed Marks and you must use the variances or other service marks, trademarks or trade names required by and as determined by us. Our sole liability and obligation in such event is to reimburse you for the direct out-of-pocket costs of complying with this obligation, which you must document to our satisfaction, including, by way of example, alterations in signage and replacement of marketing materials. There are no agreements currently in effect that significantly limit our rights to use or license the use of the Licensed Marks in any manner material to you.

ITEM 14 PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS AND PROPRIETARY INFORMATION

We do not own any rights to, or licenses in any patent or copyrights material to the franchise System. We may copyright advertising materials and design specifications, our Manuals and other written materials and items. We have not applied to the USPTO for the issuance of any patents.

You must keep as confidential our Manuals and any supplements to the Manuals. Our Manuals may take the form of written materials and/or digitally distributed and stored materials and made available to you for use in connection with the Franchised Business. The Manuals contain information about our System, Approved Services and Products, System Supplies, proprietary products, marketing systems, training, and confidential methods of operation. You must use all reasonable and prudent means to maintain the Manuals and the information maintained in the Manuals as confidential and prevent any unauthorized copies, recordings, reproduction, or distribution of the Manuals or the information contained in the Manuals. You must restrict access to the Manuals to management level employees who sign a confidentiality agreement with you and are required by you to maintain the confidentiality of the Manuals and refrain from distributing or disclosing the Manuals and the information contained in the Manuals. You must provide us with immediate notice if you learn of any unauthorized use of the Manuals or of the information contained in the Manuals, or any infringement or challenge to the proprietary or confidentiality of the information contained in the Manuals. We will take any and all action(s), or refrain from taking action, that we determine, in our discretion, to be appropriate. We may control any action or legal proceeding we choose to bring. We need not participate in your defense or indemnify you for damages or expenses in a proceeding involving a copyright or patent. If any third party establishes to our satisfaction, in our discretion, that it possesses rights superior to ours, then you must modify or discontinue your use of these materials in accordance with our written instructions.

ITEM 15 OBLIGATION TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ACTUAL OPERATION OF THE FRANCHISE BUSINESS

The Franchise Agreement requires that you or, if you are a Corporate Entity, that your managing shareholder or partner be personally responsible for the daily management and supervision of the Franchised Business (the "Managing Owner"). We must approve your Managing Owner and your Managing Owner must dedicate his or her full time efforts to the management and operation of the Franchise. Your Managing Owner must have satisfactorily completed our initial training and must have obtained all required licenses and permits necessary to operate a Bee Organized Business within your Operating Territory.

You may hire a manager to assume responsibility for the daily management and supervision of the Franchised Business, only if: (a) the manager meets all of our minimum standards and criteria for managers; (b) the manager completes our initial training program; (c) the manager signs our confidentiality and non-competition agreements; and (d) the manager agrees, in writing, to assume responsibility for the on-site management and supervision of the Franchised Business (an "Operating Manager"). All of your employees and other agents and representatives who

may have access to our confidential information must sign a confidentiality agreement. We do not require that the Operating Manager own any equity interest in the franchise.

You, and if you are a partnership or Corporate Entity, each of your members, shareholders and/or partners (collectively, "Owners"), must personally guarantee all of your obligations to us under the Franchise Agreement. Each Owner and Owner's spouse must personally guarantee your obligations to us under the Franchise Agreement. You must also promise in writing that, among other things, during the term of the Franchise Agreement you will not participate in any business that in any way competes with a Bee Organized Business, and that for 24 months after the expiration or termination of the Franchise Agreement with said period being tolled during any periods of non-compliance, you will not participate in any competitive business located within and/or servicing clients located within your Operating Territory and a 25 mile radius surrounding your Operating Territory. Further you will not participate in any competitive business located within and/or servicing clients located within the operating territory of any other Bee Organized Business. Your managers will be required by us to sign a confidentiality agreement.

ITEM 16 RESTRICTIONS ON WHAT THE FRANCHISEE MAY SELL

You may only sell the products and services specified or approved by us in writing. You must sell the products and services required by us. We can change the products and services that you must offer. There is no limitation on our right to change the products and services offered by Franchised Business. You are not limited to whom you may sell your products and services, provided you do so exclusively from within your Operating Territory and to/on behalf of clients that are located within your Operating Territory and in compliance with the standards we have determined for the System.

ITEM 17 RENEWAL, TERMINATION, TRANSFER AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION

THE FRANCHISE RELATIONSHIP

This table lists certain important provisions of the franchise and related agreements. You should read these provisions in the agreements attached to this Disclosure Document.

| v. Choice of forum | 18.G. | All mediation, arbitration and, if applicable, litigation proceedings must be conducted in, or closest to, State court of general jurisdiction that is within or closest to Johnson County, Kansas or, if appropriate, the United States District Court nearest to our corporate headquarters at the time such action is filed. This provision is subject to applicable state law. |

Source: Item 19 — FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE REPRESENTATIONS (FDD pages 40–50)