Under the Checkers franchise agreement, what is a franchisee's obligation regarding recipes, processes, and other materials related to the fast-food restaurant business?
Checkers Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
- 7.03 Information Exchange. You must promptly disclose to us all recipes, processes, ideas, concepts, advertising and promotional materials, website pages and content, methods, techniques or materials used or useful to a fast-food restaurant business, whether or not constituting protectable intellectual property, that you create, or that are created on your behalf or for your benefit by your Owners or employees, in connection with the development or operation of your Restaurant (collectively, the "Materials"). Any such Materials will be deemed our sole and exclusive property, part of the System, and works made-for-hire for us. To the extent that any one of the Materials does not qualify as a "work made-for-hire" for us (as such term is defined under Section 101 of the U.S. Copyright Act), by way of this paragraph you irrevocably convey, grant, transfer and assign ownership of the Material(s), and all related rights to the Materials, both during and after the Term,
Source: Item 22 — CONTRACTS (FDD pages 91–92)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Checkers's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, franchisees have a responsibility to disclose any recipes, processes, ideas, or materials that they create or that are created on their behalf that are useful to the fast-food restaurant business. This includes advertising and promotional materials, website content, methods, and techniques.
The Checkers franchise agreement stipulates that all such materials are considered the sole and exclusive property of Checkers, becoming part of their System and classified as works made-for-hire. This means Checkers owns the rights to these materials.
If any of the materials created by the franchisee or on their behalf do not legally qualify as a work made-for-hire under U.S. Copyright law, the franchisee still irrevocably transfers and assigns ownership and all related rights to Checkers. This transfer of ownership applies both during the term of the franchise agreement and after its termination.