What standard of care is a Hydrodog franchisee required to use to safeguard the confidentiality of the Confidential Information?

According to the 2025 Hydrodog Franchise Disclosure Document, franchisees must use the highest degree of care to safeguard the confidentiality of the Confidential Information. This includes not disclosing, leaking, divulging, disseminating, revealing, making available, replicating, duplicating, or otherwise communicating any portion of the Confidential Information to any other person or entity, or using it for any purpose other than while working with Hydrodog under the Franchise Agreement. Franchisees also agree not to make any copies of the Confidential Information, whether printed or in intangible form.

To prevent unauthorized use or disclosure of the Confidential Information, Hydrodog franchisees must follow all reasonable procedures prescribed by Hydrodog. These procedures are referred to as the "Confidentiality Obligations." Franchisees must also ensure that their owners, managers, employees, and independent contractors who have access to the Confidential Information agree to keep it strictly confidential during and indefinitely after the agreement's term. They must also refrain from using any Confidential Information in any other business or capacity.

Hydrodog also requires franchisees to implement reasonable procedures to prevent unauthorized use or disclosure of Confidential Information. This includes restricting its disclosure to Franchised Business personnel and others needing to know such Confidential Information to operate their HydroDog Business. Franchisees must also require all employees and independent contractors having access to Confidential Information to sign confidentiality and non-competition agreements in a form acceptable to Hydrodog, which has the right to regulate the form of these agreements and to be a third-party beneficiary with independent enforcement rights.

Franchisees must also maintain the Hydrodog Operations Manuals as confidential and keep any printed copies current and in a secure location at their HydroDog Business, with access limited to authorized personnel who have signed confidentiality agreements. Any permitted copies must be marked as "Confidential" and maintained with the same level of security as the original Manuals. These measures ensure that the Confidential Information remains protected and that the Hydrodog system's proprietary knowledge is not compromised.