For City Publications, which individuals associated with the franchisee may be required to execute nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements?
City_Publications Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
Franchisee's shareholders, officers, partners, members and managers may be required to execute nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements. Franchisee may be obligated to ensure that each of the foregoing persons execute a nondisclosure and confidentiality agreement at the time this Agreement is executed or prior to such persons becoming shareholders, officers, partners, members or managers, whichever is earlier. Franchisor shall be a third party beneficiary with the right to enforce covenants contained in such agreements. The spouse of each person identified as Franchisee under the terms of this Agreement will be required to sign a nondisclosure and non-competition agreement.
Source: Item 23 — RECEIPT (FDD pages 39–129)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to City Publications' 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, certain individuals associated with the franchisee are required to sign nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements. Specifically, the franchisee's shareholders, officers, partners, members, and managers may be required to execute these agreements. City Publications may require the franchisee to ensure that these individuals sign the agreements either when the franchise agreement is executed or before they become shareholders, officers, partners, members, or managers, whichever occurs first.
Furthermore, City Publications states that it is a third-party beneficiary with the right to enforce the covenants within these agreements. This means City Publications has the legal right to ensure these individuals comply with the terms of the nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements, even though City Publications is not a direct party to those agreements.
In addition to the aforementioned individuals, the spouse of each person identified as the franchisee under the terms of the franchise agreement will also be required to sign a nondisclosure and non-competition agreement. This ensures that confidential information remains protected even within the franchisee's immediate family. This is a fairly standard practice in franchising to protect the franchisor's proprietary information and trade secrets.