During the term of the Hydrodog Franchise Agreement, can I communicate or use Hydrodog's confidential information for the benefit of someone else?
Hydrodog Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
The Operation Manual and other materials and information we may give you access to contain our confidential information that we treat as trade secrets. This information includes, but is not limited to, methods, formats, specifications, equipment, standards, procedures, sales and marketing techniques, knowledge of and experience in developing and operating HydroDog Businesses, knowledge of specifications for and suppliers of certain equipment, materials and supplies, and knowledge of the operating results and financial performance of HydroDog Businesses. You and your owners must not communicate or use our confidential information for the benefit of anyone else during the term of the Franchise Agreement. After the Franchise Agreement terminates or expires, you and your owners may no longer use the confidential information and must return it to us. We may require your employees, independent contractors or agents to sign a form of nondisclosure and non-competition agreement. We may regulate the form of agreement that you use and may require that we be made a third party beneficiary of that agreement with independent enforcement rights.
Source: Item 14 — PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS AND PROPRIETARY INFORMATION (FDD pages 33–34)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Hydrodog's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, franchisees are explicitly prohibited from communicating or using Hydrodog's confidential information for the benefit of anyone else during the term of the Franchise Agreement. The FDD emphasizes that franchisees and their owners must not use Hydrodog's confidential information for the benefit of anyone else during the term of the Franchise Agreement. After the Franchise Agreement terminates or expires, the franchisee and their owners may no longer use the confidential information and must return it to Hydrodog.
Hydrodog defines confidential information broadly, including methods, formats, specifications, equipment, standards, procedures, sales and marketing techniques, knowledge of operating HydroDog Businesses, knowledge of specifications for and suppliers of certain equipment, materials and supplies, and knowledge of the operating results and financial performance of HydroDog Businesses. Franchisees must also prevent unauthorized use or disclosure of confidential information by restricting its disclosure to Franchised Business personnel and others needing to know such Confidential Information to operate their HydroDog Business, and requiring all employees and independent contractors having access to Confidential Information to sign confidentiality and non-competition agreements in a form acceptable to Hydrodog.
This restriction is a standard practice in franchising to protect the franchisor's proprietary information and maintain a competitive advantage. The franchisee's employees, independent contractors, or agents may be required to sign a form of nondisclosure and non-competition agreement. Hydrodog may regulate the form of agreement that the franchisee uses and may require that Hydrodog be made a third party beneficiary of that agreement with independent enforcement rights. This ensures that Hydrodog can directly enforce these confidentiality obligations even if the employee or contractor is not directly contracted with Hydrodog.