What is a Checkersrallys franchisee required to do with recipes, processes, and advertising materials they create for their restaurant?
Checkersrallys 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 Checkersrallys's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, franchisees must disclose to Checkersrallys 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 that they create or that are created on their behalf. This includes anything created by the franchisee's owners or employees in connection with the development or operation of their Checkersrallys restaurant.
The FDD states that all such materials are deemed Checkersrallys's sole and exclusive property, considered part of the Checkersrallys system, and classified as works made-for-hire for Checkersrallys. This means Checkersrallys owns the rights to these materials.
To the extent that any of these materials do not legally qualify as "works made-for-hire" under U.S. Copyright law, the franchisee irrevocably transfers and assigns ownership of the materials and all related rights to Checkersrallys. This transfer of ownership applies both during and after the term of the franchise agreement.
In practical terms, this means that while a Checkersrallys franchisee may innovate and develop new recipes or advertising approaches for their restaurant, they do not own the rights to those creations. Checkersrallys has the right to use those creations across the entire franchise system without further compensation to the franchisee. This is a fairly standard practice in franchising, as it allows the franchisor to maintain consistency and leverage successful innovations across the brand.