Vladyslav Podolyak Expects Growth of Franchise Disputes in Ukraine

 Vladyslav Podolyak, Attorney-at-Law at Vasil Kisil & Partners Law Firm, delivered a speech on “Franchising and Franchise Disputes” at the Franchising 2015 Expo, which was held in Kyiv on February 25-27. In his speech, Vladyslav shared his vision of common causes of franchise disputes and provided advice on how to successfully represent the interests of franchisors and franchisees in court.

“Franchising market is in its infancy in Ukraine. A substantial part of legal disputes relates to the economic component of the legal relationship between a franchisor and a franchisee. This is first of all a matter of payment of franchise fees (royalties) and also a matter of tax disputes. The further development of franchising will lead to an increasing number of disputes over intellectual property rights. There are more clients who wish to protect their franchise businesses against franchise format duplication, unfair competition, trade secret disclosure, and other intellectual property infringements and our purpose is to assist them,” said V. Podolyak in his speech.

The all-Ukrainian trade show of the most successful franchising projects is annually organized by Euroindex. This event showcased over 30 franchisors from Ukraine, Baltic States, and Moldova. These companies demonstrated the advantages of franchise businesses operating under brands such as Mafia, Lvivski Plyatsky, Garcia Jeans, Royal Carwash, Dream Family, FingerFoodSpot, Nash Kray, Eco Lavka, Dima Borisov Restaurants Family, etc. The Franchising 2015 Expo provided entrepreneurs with an opportunity to share their thoughts about the franchise concept and trends and discuss its economic and legal aspects. The trade show provided a platform for keynote speakers where the most successful franchises were presented and speeches were delivered by intellectual property business consultants and lawyers.