Not an exclusive catchment area, but still exclusivity for the franchisee
The judgment of the District Court of Noord-Holland dated 18 April 2018, ECLI:NL:RBNHO:2018:3268, ruled on the exclusivity area of a franchisee.
It was agreed that the franchisor is in principle entitled to admit another franchisee in the same district, provided that the franchisor has offered the franchisee the opportunity in writing to expand its business to meet customer demand and that the franchisee has given you 30 days to accept this offer.
However, the franchisee and the franchisee newly admitted to the district had already worked together before, each exploiting the formula for their own account. Although this argues that the new franchisee could be admitted by the franchisor to the relevant district, the interpretation is not only governed by the content of the franchise agreement, but also by reasonableness and fairness.
It turned out that the franchisee in question, newly admitted to the district, had just been presented to the franchisor as a temporary experiment and it had been agreed, at the suggestion of the existing franchisee, that “the ownership of the franchise license and the district will remain fully in the hands of [ the (existing) franchisee]” remains. The court therefore concludes that the franchisor, after the end of the experiment, should not have allowed the new franchisee in question to enter the territory of the existing franchisee. So the circumstances dictate how the franchise agreement should be applied.
mr. AW Dolphijn – franchise lawyer
Ludwig & Van Dam Franchise attorneys, franchise legal advice. Do you want to respond? Go to dolphijn@ludwigvandam.nl .
![219contracts-min](https://www.ludwigvandam.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/219contracts-min.jpg)
Other messages
Magazine Franchise & Law, episode 2 (November 2015)
Ludwig & Van Dam Advocaten wrote a chronicle of case law in franchise law over the first half of 2015.
Can a franchisee leave sales channels unused?
Franchise formulas are now generally well equipped with an online sales channel.
Distribution over the franchisor’s trade name
A franchisor's trade name is one of the most important elements of the formula.
Legal workshop Turnover forecasts at Ludwig & Van Dam
Legal workshop Turnover forecasts at Ludwig & Van Dam
The rules of the game when renting a property
Buy or rent. That's the question with a new business, a subsequent building. Apart from the possibilities you have to buy another property, renting is also a good option.
From omni-channel to single-channel allowed
Can a bicycle supplier terminate the dealer agreement if the dealer no longer operates physical stores, but restricts itself to a web shop?