Is Buff City Soap required to mark all Confidential Information as "confidential" or "proprietary"?
Buff_City_Soap Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
Franchisor will take reasonable steps to mark as "confidential" or "proprietary" any Confidential Information that it deems as such, but the failure to mark such Confidential Information will not cause it to be public information or otherwise not protected as Confidential Information.
Source: Item 23 — Receipts (FDD pages 69–186)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to the 2025 FDD, Buff City Soap is not strictly required to mark all confidential information as "confidential" or "proprietary." While Buff City Soap will take reasonable steps to mark confidential information it deems as such, its failure to do so does not negate the information's protected status as confidential information.
This means that even if certain information isn't explicitly labeled as confidential, a Buff City Soap franchisee is still obligated to treat it as such. The franchisee is responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of all information provided by Buff City Soap, regardless of whether it's marked as confidential or proprietary.
This policy places the onus on the franchisee to understand what constitutes confidential information, as defined in the Franchise Agreement, and to protect it accordingly. Franchisees must implement measures to maintain confidentiality that are no less strict than those they use to protect their own confidential information.