According to the Ledgers FDD, what is considered confidential and proprietary?
Ledgers Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
may not use the Licensed Marks in the name of any corporate entity that you establish.
ITEM 14 PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS AND PROPRIETARY INFORMATION
At this time, we do not hold any patents. We claim a copyright to our Operations Manual, marketing material such as our website text, and other printed material, although we have not presently filed a registration of those copyrights. We consider all of these items confidential and proprietary. Upon termination of your Franchise Agreement, you must return to us our Operations Manuals and any confidential information.
There are no material determinations of the U.S. Copyright Office or a court regarding our copyrights. There are no agreements that limits the use of our copyrights, except the confidentiality duties in your Franchise Agreement, which requires you to keep our confidential information confidential. We have no duty to protect our copyrights or defend you against claims arising from your use of our copyrighted items. We do not know of any copyright infringement that could materially affect you.
You will not directly or indirectly disclose, publish, disseminate or use our "Confidential Information" except as authorized in the Franchise Agreement. You may use our Confidential Information to perform your obligations under the Franchise Agreement, but in doing so you will only allow dissemination of our Confidential Information on a need-to-know basis and only to those individuals that have been informed of the proprietary and confidential nature of such Confidential Information. We may share performance data of your Franchised Business between us, our employees and affiliates, our franchisees and their employees. You agree to keep such performance data confidential.
"Confidential Information" means our information or data (oral, written, electronic or otherwise), including, without limitation, a trade secret, that is valuable and not generally known or readily available to third parties obtained by you from us during the term of the Franchise Agreement. The Confidential Information of ours includes all intellectual property associated with our Franchise System, all other materials relating to our Franchise System that are not a matter of public record, and all information generated during the performance of the Franchise Agreement.
Source: Item 14 — PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS AND PROPRIETARY INFORMATION (FDD pages 36–37)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Ledgers' 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, several items are considered confidential and proprietary. These include the Operations Manual, marketing materials (such as website text and other printed material), and all intellectual property associated with the Ledgers Franchise System. This also extends to any non-public information or data obtained by the franchisee that is not generally known or readily available to third parties, including trade secrets and materials related to the franchise system that are not a matter of public record.
Customer data is explicitly classified as Confidential Information, encompassing details like customer names, telephone numbers, addresses, and email addresses. Ledgers also considers performance data related to the franchised business as confidential, and may share this data among its employees, affiliates, and other franchisees. Franchisees are required to keep this performance data confidential as well.
As a franchisee, you are prohibited from disclosing, publishing, or using Ledgers' Confidential Information, except as authorized within the Franchise Agreement. You can only share this information with employees or agents on a need-to-know basis, ensuring they are aware of its proprietary and confidential nature. Upon termination of the Franchise Agreement, franchisees must return all Operations Manuals and any confidential information to Ledgers and are restricted from revealing or using any Confidential Information for the benefit of others or competing businesses, even after the agreement expires.