Eleonora – Page 16 – IDI

EU: Law applicable to agency agreements – the UNAMAR v. Navigation Maritime Bulgare case (Judgment of the European Court of Justice of 17 October 2013).

Posted on 16 January 2014 (20 October 2022)

The case concerned an agency contract between a Bulgarian shipping company (NMB) and a Belgian agent (UNAMAR), containing a choice-of-law clause in favour of the laws of Bulgaria and an arbitration clause in favour of a Bulgarian arbitration institution. When the contract was terminated, UNAMAR brought a claim before the Belgian courts requesting goodwill indemnity […]

SPAIN: Distribution agreements – damages indemnity: previous notice and abuse of right.

Posted on 23 December 2013 (1 June 2022)

The general rule for this kind of indefinite agreements permits the parties to freely and unilaterally terminate the agreement with no reason but giving a previous notice even when the agreement does not foresee it. The absence of this previous notice can be seen as an abuse of right or an unfair behaviour and although […]

FRANCE: an interesting case law on selective distribution.

Posted on 23 December 2013 (20 October 2022)

French Supreme Court, Commercial Chamber, 24 September 2013, Case no. 12- 14.344 The French Supreme Court has upheld a Court of Appeals’ decision finding that a clause was disproportionate and thus anticompetitive because it required the selected distributors to prove the physical presence of a qualified pharmacist in order to be able to retail their products […]

USA: Conflicting cases addressing franchisee associations’ ‘associational standing’ to bring suits against a franchisor on behalf of franchisee members.

Posted on 23 December 2013 (1 June 2022)

In NIACCF, Inc. v. Cold Stone Creamery, Inc., Case No. 12-20756-Civ-SCOLA, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70256 (S.D. Fla. May 21, 2012), the United States District Court for the Southern District of California granted a franchisor’s motion to stay a lawsuit filed by an independent franchisee association, pending a motion to compel arbitration in an Arizona […]

UK: Yam Seng Pte Limited v International Trade Corporation Limited [2013] EWC 111 (QB).

Posted on 19 November 2013 (1 June 2022)

The judge stated that these ‘relational’ contracts: ‘…may require a high degree of communication, cooperation and predictable performance based on mutual trust and confidence and involve expectations of loyalty which are not legislated for in express terms of the contract but are implicit in the parties’ understanding and necessary to give business efficacy to the […]

U.S.A: Appellate Court finds that franchisor could be vicariously liable for the acts of a franchisee’s manager.

Posted on 19 November 2013 (1 June 2022)

A summary judgment is a judgment rendered by a court that no material issues of fact exist and that one party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law based on the parties’ pleadings. In the case at issue, a franchisee’s employee alleged suffering sexual harassment, assault, battery, and constructive wrongful termination at the […]

FRANCE: Two interesting case law about on-line sales.

Posted on 19 November 2013 (20 October 2022)

French Supreme Court, Commercial Chamber, 10 September 2013, Case no. 12- 11.701 A franchisor had granted its franchisee territorial exclusivity ‘in order to guarantee [it], in terms of customers, a sufficient zone of attraction in view of the concept.’ As the franchisor had opened a website to sell its products and distributed catalogues mentioning the website address with […]

The IDI website features a new franchising country expert for Poland.

Posted on 15 October 2013 (1 June 2022)

A new country report on franchising in Poland is now available in the Reports Section of the website, provided by Magdalena Kowalczuk – Szymanska , the new IDI country Expert for Poland. The CV of the new country expert can be found in the Experts’ Section of the IDI website, while all the main laws, particularly rules on franchising, […]

SPAIN: The Proposal for a New Spanish Mercantile Code has been presented in Madrid.

Posted on 15 October 2013 (1 June 2022)

With the presence of Mr. Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, Ministry of Justice of the kingdom of Spain, it has been presented in June 20th 2013 the new Proposal for a Mercantile Code. The document is the result of more than six years’ work of the Commercial Section of the National Commission for Codification. The Proposal contains regulations […]

FRANCE: Abrupt terminations of commercial relationships: insufficiency of results, redeployment of the victim, prolongation of the notice period.

Posted on 15 October 2013 (20 October 2022)

French Supreme Court, Commercial Chamber, 9 July 2013, Case no. 12-21.001 French Supreme Court, Commercial Chamber, 9 July 2013, Case no. 12-20.468 French Supreme Court, Commercial Chamber, 11 June 2013, Case no. 12-21.424 In the first of the above-captioned cases, the Supreme Court ruled that an appellate court could not deny a claim for compensation under Article L. […]

NORWAY: termination compensation awarded to a Norwegian distributor – based on analogues application of german case law.

Posted on 15 October 2013 (1 June 2022)

There is no comparable EU directive in relation to distributorship agreements, and until now Norwegian courts have not awarded (sole) distributors rights on termination of the distributorship. However in a decision dated 4th of June 2013 the appeal court of Borgarting (‘Appeal Court’) ordered Webasto AG to pay its Norwegian distributor (KCL) 10MNOK as a […]

TURKEY: Decision of the 11th Chamber of the Court of Appeals on a post non-competing obligation in a franchising contract.

Posted on 16 September 2013 (1 June 2022)

In its decision, the court ruled that the parties’ one year of post-contractual non-compete clause of the franchising contract was void, based on Article 48 of the Constitution and Articles 19 and 20 of the former Turkish Code of Obligations. More precisely, the court stated that such a post-contractual non-compete obligation is against the freedom […]

U.S.A.: Appellate Court reverses lower court’s finding that franchise agreement was renewable in perpetuity.

Posted on 16 September 2013 (1 June 2022)

The franchise agreements at issue, which were governed by Missouri law, contained an initial term of five years and provided that the agreement ‘shall automatically renew itself for successive five-year terms.’ They further provided that the franchisee could elect not to renew if it gave Block 120 days’ notice, but were silent as to any […]

POLAND: an interesting judgement on goodwill indemnity in agency contracts.

Posted on 16 September 2013 (1 June 2022)

According to Article 7643 of the Civil Code after the agency contract is terminated, the agent may demand a compensatory performance (goodwill indemnity) from the principal if, during the term of the agency contract, he obtained new clients or led to a significant increase in turnover with existing clients, and the principal continues to draw […]

ITALY: Italian case-law on distribution and franchise contracts.

Posted on 15 July 2013 (1 June 2022)

1)Tribunal of Bologna, May 4, 2012 – V. Arredamenti S.a.s. di V.F. & C. v. C. Group – Ali S.p.a. In the case submitted to the attention of the Tribunal of Bologna, the parties concluded a distributorship contract, for the distribution and marketing by V. Arredamenti S.a.s. of the machineries produced by C. Group – […]

AUSTRALIA: Franchising Code 2013 Review.

Posted on 15 July 2013 (1 June 2022)

As the Review’s Discussion Paper by appointed reviewer Alan Wein outlines, the 2008 amendments were engineered to increase the transparency and quality of franchisor disclosure. The 2010 amendments consolidated this, and upped the ante, firstly by increasing regulation of franchisor-franchisee interactions in dispute resolution processes, and secondly by focussing on the undercurrent of good […]

IDI WEBSITE: New Country Experts and Reports.

Posted on 15 July 2013 (15 April 2022)

We are glad to inform you that the IDI website features five new Country Experts: ALGERIA (agency & distribution): Yamina Kebir GUATEMALA (franchising): Ruby Asturias Castillo ROMANIA (agency and distribution) : Cristina Tararache SOUTH AFRICA (franchising): Eugene Honey SPAIN (franchising): Alberto Echarri The new reports can be found in the Reports Section of the IDI website […]

UK: The Retoucherie Manuela decision.

Posted on 15 July 2013 (20 October 2022)

As every franchisor knows having effective non compete covenants is essential to maintain the integrity of a franchise system. These non compete provisions are often the most litigated clauses in franchise agreements. Generally non compete covenants in UK franchise agreements last for the duration of the franchise agreement plus a year and relate to the […]

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