What must an Epcon Communities franchisee do with copyright notices on documentation provided by the franchisor?
Epcon_Communities Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
In the event that any documentation provided to Franchisee by Franchisor bears a copyright notice or other copyright management information, Franchisee shall not remove such notice from said documentation, and such notice shall be retained or reproduced in its exact form on all authorized copies and versions of such documentation, both in machine and human readable language.
Franchisee shall not distribute Franchisor's copyrighted documentation or the Epcon Communities Works to a third party, except as provided for in the Agreement or otherwise with specific written authorization from Franchisor. Franchisee agrees that its strict compliance with these provisions is a condition precedent to its license to utilize the Epcon Communities Works, and as such any use of such works in violation of any of these provisions is unauthorized and will be acts of copyright infringement.
Source: Item 23 — RECEIPTS (FDD pages 86–280)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to the 2025 Epcon Communities Franchise Disclosure Document, if any documentation provided to the franchisee by Epcon Communities bears a copyright notice or other copyright management information, the franchisee must not remove the notice from the documentation. The franchisee is required to retain or reproduce the notice in its exact form on all authorized copies and versions of the documentation, both in machine and human-readable language.
This requirement ensures that Epcon Communities' intellectual property rights are protected and that all copies of the documentation clearly indicate the franchisor's ownership. It prevents franchisees from inadvertently or intentionally infringing on Epcon Communities' copyrights by removing or altering copyright notices.
Failure to comply with this provision could have serious consequences for the franchisee. The FDD states that strict compliance with these provisions is a condition of the license to utilize the Epcon Communities Works. Any use of such works in violation of these provisions is unauthorized and will be considered copyright infringement.