Our very own Lynne D. Shelton and Jason W. Power were recognized in February at the International Franchise Association’s annual convention in Las Vegas as Certified Franchise Executives by the Institute of Certified Franchise Executives. Jason and Lynne each completed a comprehensive course of study in franchise management offered by the institute, which is the academic branch of the International …
Get it in writing!
From time to time we meet with business owners, franchisors, franchisees, and employees to discuss issues involving verbal agreements. Although enforceable, verbal agreements for the most part are worth the paper they are printed on. This is because many times a verbal agreement is a he said, she said argument where neither side can be believed with 100% certainty. But, …
New FTC guidelines for Blogs and Social Media
Do you use a blog or twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or any other social media in your business? If so, then you should pay particular attention to the new guidelines issued by the Federal Trade Commission. Although the new guidelines are not law yet, the FTC has been known for enforcement in the past and will probably be on the lookout for …
A moment of silence
Although there is much to say in the world of franchising today, we at Shelton & Power would like to ask everyone to take part in a moment of silence for those innocent people injured at the Boston marathon and at the explosion in West, TX. Although the events are not related, the destruction that was caused by both events …
Free ticket – Dallas franchise expo
Register to attend the Dallas Franchise Expo for free, compliments of Shelton & Power franchise law firm or invite a friend to attend with you. Email us at info@sla.law and we will register you to attend the Dallas Franchise Expo on May 18 & 19 where one of our senior attorneys, Jason Power, will be speaking about how to buy …
We introduce the Austin Franchise Association
The problem: Franchise professionals are very busy, but they know that they are missing important information that is crucial to their business. The biggest problem has been that there is a lack of convenient meeting places for these franchise professionals to discuss solutions with their colleagues on a regular, reliable and consistent basis. The solution: The Austin Franchise Association. The …
What is the status of your annual updates?
It’s coming to the cut off point for that time of year again franchisors. Have you updated your Franchise Disclosure Document and sent off renewals or will you be calling state examiners begging for an extension? Please tell us about any horror stories you have of your internal strife during this time or your anxiety attacks trying to get everything …
Best Practices to Protect Trade Secrets, pt 1
To protect its Intellectual Property Rights (“IPR”) by demonstrating that certain information qualifies as a trade secret, companies should consider the following: 1. Develop and Implement an Overall Intellectual Property Rights Protection Program. Whether you are just starting out or are a multinational company with enormous revenues, an effective IPR protection strategy or program (“Program”) is critical to a competitive advantage. The …
Best Practices to Protect Trade Secrets, pt 2
In our last BLOG, Lynne Shelton discussed the first 3 Best Practices to Protect Trade Secrets. In this issue, she will cover points 4 – 9 for you. 4. Record Keeping, Document Retention and Destruction Policies Companies should have record keeping, document retention and destruction policies in place for a variety of reasons, including trade secret protection. As with all …
Using a Discovery Day to your advantage.
Most franchisors host some form of Discovery Day or Join the Team day. This event is intended to be a show and tell day culminating with a celebration that the select franchisees in attendance are signing franchise agreements and becoming part of the franchise system. As a franchisor, to get the most value from a Discovery Day, you should take …