International Law

Fairness In Franchising

Posted on July 16, 2008
Image via WikipediaGillian Hadfield wrote this about the franchisor/franchisee relationship in 1990. I have quoted a large part of her analysis because it highlights the difficulty in controlling the relationship via a legally binding contract. This is a theme I will be returning to: the necessary incompleteness of the franchise contract and what it means for the corporate governance of a franchise system...

The inventory "investment" con in Mary Kay

Posted on July 16, 2008
Image via WikipediaOver at Pink Truth, Tracy writes about inventory con in Mary Kay "The secret to getting Mary Kay consultants (especially new ones) to order lots of inventory is overcoming their objections. New consultants typically are skeptical about spending thousands of dollars on inventory that they're not even sure they can sell...

New Federal inquiry into Australian Franchising

Posted on July 15, 2008
The Australians have launched yet another enquiry into franchising. But there was a nice economic observation in the piece. "The reality of franchising is that a franchisee has to outperform other independent businesses by a significant margin to have an equal return to their pockets, let alone a better result...

The End of a Franchise

Posted on July 15, 2008
What happens when a franchisee's term ends? And the franchisor decides not to offer a renewal of the franchise on the then current terms in order to resell the location? This is a problem that the Australian Government is dealing with. Last August, 2007 Competitive Foods Australia made submissions to the Government regarding franchise renewal, which included the following overview: The law in Australia does not provide any or any adequate protection for tenants and franchisees who lose the goodwill they have built up in their businesses when landlords and franchisors fail to renew their leases and franchise agreements upon expiry...

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New FTC Online Resource for U.S. Antitrust Laws

Posted on July 14, 2008
Image via Wikipedia"What are the antitrust laws and how do they promote and protect competition? Find the answers in a new online resource from the Federal Trade Commission, the FTC Guide to the Antitrust Laws. This plain-language guide is written for consumers and business people with questions about the antitrust laws...

Unique Yogurt Mixes

Posted on July 14, 2008
Image via WikipediaIn selling a franchise, the seller is usually required in Canada and the US to provide the purchaser with information about the franchise and operation of the system. At common law, much of what is required by statute would not be required...

How We Drive, Tom Vanderbilt's Traffic Blog

Posted on July 14, 2008
When is slower faster? This is a very interesting video from Tom Vanderbilt about traffic coordination. Related articles by ZemantaMoving In Together to Get a Handle on TrafficTraffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do

Phoenix Boiler Room Banned from Telemarketing, The Results Group

Posted on July 14, 2008
Image via WikipediaIn 1988, I completed my PhD thesis on rational choice theory, and my external examiner was A.K. Sen. The thesis showed that there was an expanded group of choice behaviour that could be thought of as rational, in the maximizing preference economic sense...

Protest Against Pigeon King Ponzi

Posted on July 11, 2008
Image via WikipediaScott Hunsberger, of Business Opportunities Buster, has asked me to pass on and publicize this meeting. A demonstration is planned for July 30, 2008 in Kitchener, ON. at the Creditors meeting for the bankruptf Pigeon King International; a demonstration like the following Farmers from across Canada and the US have become victims of what is showing signs of a very large pyramid/ponzi scheme which has failed and left 100's of farmers with useless pigeons to feed and support...

Can Pigeon King Investors Recover some of their Money?

Posted on July 11, 2008
Image via WikipediaBetter Farming, who has done a terrific job writing about the Pigeon King ponzi scheme stumbled at bit in writing about some methods investors can recover their money. "Jim Patterson, who leads the Toronto-based law firm Bennett Jones LLP's fraud law practice group, told Better Farming earlier this week that he is not currently informed enough about the PKI situation to comment specifically, but will look into it...

Are You a FranWad?

Posted on July 11, 2008
Image via WikipediaAre you a FranWad? Well, if you won't pay $750 to attend a seminar to understand how to perform background investigations on franchisors, you are probably a FranWad. Richard Solomon, writes over at franchise investment site BMM, about FranWads: "I see amongst the franchisee community an intense resentment at having to pay significant legal fees to obtain investment risk reduction that they believe they are automatically entitled to from the government and are not getting...

eBay denied stay in LVMH case

Posted on July 11, 2008
Image via WikipediaRoger Parloff, writing at his legal blog at Fortune Magazine, reports that "The French Court of Appeals today denied eBay's (EBAY) petition to stay an injunction issued June 30 by a Parisian court that requires eBay to halt all sales of four LVMH (LVMUY) perfumes over any site worldwide that is accessible from France, according to an eBay spokesperson...

Avoid the Scams. What Does John Chow Advise?

Posted on July 10, 2008
Image via WikipediaJohn Chow and Shoemoney are known for their sometimes not so friendly rivalry with regard to affiliate marketing. Last month, June 2008, John Chow has a guest blogger Steve write about about how to avoid business opportunity scams...

Bankruptcy filing says Pigeon King owed $23 million

Posted on July 10, 2008
Image via WikipediaFrom the bankruptcy filings of Pigeon King: "The breeder contracts appeared to be that of an investor nature. The debt declared by the Officer of Pigeon King International Inc. for the bankruptcy documents was the original purchase amount by breeders less any amounts paid to the breeder for the buy back of young birds...

Can the State can put scammers out of business?

Posted on July 09, 2008
Image via WikipediaAndre Bauer, writing at Greenville Online, thinks that the State can put scammers out of business or at least relocate them. Hmm, lets listen to his idea: "Public agencies have been working hard on scams, but the coordination of their efforts can be improved...

Starbucks' Lessons for the Luxury Brand

Posted on July 09, 2008
Image via WikipediaJohn Quelch writing at the Harvard Business School blog has a good analysis of what went wrong with Starbucks. He makes (3) good points: 1. First, the early adopters who valued the club-like atmosphere of relaxing over a quality cup of coffee found themselves in a minority...

Can eBay reverse Court loss to LVMH?

Posted on July 09, 2008
Image via WikipediaSeveral weeks ago, I wrote about the LVMH case against eBay in France, where "the Commercial Court of Paris [was] granted a sweeping injunction sought by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMUY) that would not only require eBay to block all sales of counterfeit Louis Vuitton Malletier and Christian Dior Couture products on its site -- a feat eBay has claimed is not technologically feasible -- but also to block all sales of genuine LVMH perfumes being sold there by unauthorized distributors...

FTC On Behavioral Advertising

Posted on July 09, 2008
Image via WikipediaHere is a summary of the FTC's position on interactive or behavioral advertising; "Behavioral advertising may provide a variety of benefits to consumers, including free content, personalization of ads, and a potential reduction in unwanted advertising...

Papa Murphy's and Fair Franchise Relations

Posted on July 08, 2008
Image by mab @ flickr via FlickrHere is what Clarice Turner, the President of Papa Murphy's says about the important of fair franchising: "Listening and really making an effort to understand the needs of the franchisees, and that those may be different across the country or by size...

Successful Vending Machine Business Advice

Posted on July 08, 2008
Image via WikipediaUsually, these type of articles are pointlessly bad. But, Simon Harris, writing at ezine articles has some decent advice about running a real vending operation. His tips: 1. By used machines from a well regarded vendor. 2. Put the vending machines that need refilling closest to your home, to save on gas...

Fallacy Files Reviews Nudge on Temptation

Posted on July 08, 2008
Image by Getty Images via DaylifeThe Fallacy Files has a review of the 2nd Chapter of Nudge, Resisting Temptation. "The second chapter concerns what philosophers call "weakness of the will", that is, succumbing to temptation. T&S give the example of a bowl of nuts (p...

Rogue Bank

Posted on July 08, 2008
Image via WikipediaThe Associated Press reports: "France's central bank announced Friday that it has fined Societe Generale $6.3 million for "serious shortcomings" in its internal controls that led to nearly $7.8 billion in trading losses announced earlier this year...

Taking a Hint or Coordinating Expectations

Posted on July 08, 2008
Image via WikipediaWe have been exploring the conflict between Stick/Frank and Sportree/Leon after the bank robbery went bad. I used some simple game theory vocabulary. We translated the dialogues between the protagonists and deduced that they had the following preference structures...

Franchising Stories

Posted on July 07, 2008
Image via WikipediaJeffrey May, writing at Trade Regulation Talk, writes: "Lessees of new cars lacked standing to seek damages from Canadian and U.S. auto makers for conspiring to restrict the flow of cheaper Canadian cars into the U.S. market between 2001 and 2003, when the U...

Show Me a Hero?

Posted on July 07, 2008
Image via WikipediaDo we really need this type of explanation? Dr. Steven Berglas, writing at Psychology Today, claims: My decision to blog stems from a veritable lifetime of studying the question: "They had the world in the palm of their hands...what made them do it?" This question appears in headlines, dominates the airwaves, and passes over virtually every intelligent person's lips, after people like Eliot Spitzer, Bill Clinton, or Martha Stewart engage in self-destructive, career-threatening (or career terminating) behavior...

Dan Gilbert on the importance of Social Psychology

Posted on July 07, 2008
Image by Getty Images via DaylifeThanks to Mind Hacks for this quote from Dan Gilbert: "Psychologists have a penchant for irrational exuberances, and whenever we discover something new we feel the need to discard everything old. Social psychology is the exception...

Sparkplug CEO and Biz Ops

Posted on July 04, 2008
Image by fredseibert via FlickrDo you know how to investigate a business opportunity? Do you know what your legal rights are? Do you know what information you are entitled to as the buyer of a business opportunity? Well, Wendy Piersall the author of a reasonably successful blog for women looking for working apparently doesn't know either...

Happy July 4th

Posted on July 04, 2008
Image via WikipediaHappy July 4th to our friends in the US. Yesterday, we had a bunch of them from Walter Olson's Overlawyered drop by to look at the Quizno's class cost award. Loser pays is still not a concept that goes over well with our southern lawyer friends...

Red Bull Franchise Fraud

Posted on July 04, 2008
Image via WikipediaRed Bull is a famous brand. Red Bull has a famous trademark. Red Bull innocently enabled a biz op scammer, Creative Concepts, to steal money. Hmm, do you think when people google "Red Bull vending scam" that Red Bull is going to be very happy with the results? The story begins several years ago, as recounted by Stacy Bradshaw in Canadian Vending: In the United States, both Coca-Cola and Pepsi are offering their respective energy drinks in Vending Solutions vending machines...

Michael Kapoustin, Ponzi Scammer wants to Come Home to Canada

Posted on July 04, 2008
Image via WikipediaPetar Kostadinov, writing at the Sofia Echo, has a nice story about a Canadian bred fraud criminal - who wants to come home: "Canadian citizen Michael Kapoustin, whose name has become synonymous with fraud and embezzlement, was released from a Bulgarian prison at the beginning of July 2008 five years before the end of his 17-year sentence...

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