Research on Franchise Legal Issues

Author: He Yi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-02-01
Features: This book is divided into ten chapters. Chapter 1 discusses the concept, characteristics, classification, and historical development of franchising, and briefly analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of this system from an economic perspective. Chapter 2 primarily introduces the legislative status of franchising, including domestic specialized legislation in some countries, self-regulatory norms in the franchising industry, and non-binding guideline documents designated by international organizations. It is worth noting that although these guideline documents lack legal binding force, their guiding role in practice is by no means negligible. Franchising originated in the United States, flourished in Europe and America, and later emerged in Asia. Therefore, this paper necessarily includes a comparative study of the franchising legal systems in the United States, Europe, and Asia. From Chapter 3 to Chapter 7, the article is based on the special attention given to the international area franchise agreement (contract law issues) in the franchise agreement, and conducts an analysis of the franchising system from the perspectives of multiple branches of law, including information disclosure law, competition law, intellectual property law, corporate law, and tax law. The reason for starting with contract law is that franchising is, by its nature, an operating model that connects multiple business entities through a franchise agreement. Therefore, studying franchising must first clarify the rights and obligations of the parties involved in the franchise agreement. From a contractual perspective, the franchise agreement is a "named contract," which, in addition to possessing the common characteristics of general contracts, also has its unique features. This is evident from its close relationship with other legal branches such as information disclosure law, competition law, intellectual property law, corporate law, and international tax law. Therefore, after discussing the contract law issues, the article proceeds to analyze the intersections of franchising with other branches of law. The next chapter, Chapter 8, discusses the franchisor's vicarious liability to third parties, which is a very important issue in common law and is believed to be of reference significance for China's future legislation. After discussing the substantive law issues, Chapter 9 addresses the procedural issues related to franchising, specifically the governing law and dispute resolution mechanisms. International economic law is a highly practical branch of law, and theoretical research should "serve the times and benefit society." Therefore, the final chapter explores strategies and countermeasures for further developing China's franchising industry, as well as the path to perfecting China's franchising legislation, with the aim of contributing to the future legal development of China's related systems.