The course will provide a detailed focus on laws that regulate franchises in the United States, as well as discussion of common law and statutes that address similar supplier, dealer and distributor relationships that are not covered by franchise laws. The franchise relationship will be analyzed under the various state law franchise acts, with a focus on the Minnesota Franchise Act Minn.Stat. 80C.01-22, the FTC Act Franchise Rule and applicable common law principles. The course will cover what constitutes “a franchise”, franchise registration and disclosure requirements, restrictions placed on the franchise relationship by state statute and or common law, including topics such as termination and non-renewal, and the scope and limitations of statutes regulating franchises. We will contrast how various state franchise statutes address various issues by having each student (or group of students) responsible for a different state franchise statute other than Minnesota throughout the course. The course also will examine state statutes that regulate non- franchise relationships such as the Heavy and Utility Dealers Act, Minn. Stat. § 325E.068, the Minnesota Motor Vehicle Dealer Act, Minn. Stat. § 80E.01-.18, the Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law Wis Stat. 135.01-.07, and the Minnesota Termination of Sales Representative Act, Minn. Stat. § 325E.37.