Clauses having the effect of restricting the freedom of the franchisee after the end of the contract must necessarily be limited to a period of one year.
Court of Appeal of Paris, Pole 5, chamber 4, July 1, 2020, n° 17/21498
Clauses having the effect of restricting the freedom of the franchisee after the end of the contract must necessarily be limited to a period of one year. Otherwise, they run the risk of being deemed unwritten, pursuant to Article L.341-2 of the Commercial Code.
This is the lesson of a judgment rendered by the Paris Court of Appeal on July 1, 2020, concerning a clause stipulated without limitation in duration, obliging the franchisee of a car wash network with the white logo and blue "to no longer use the colors blue and white" appearing in the franchisor's logo at the end of the contractual relationship.
