Manufacturing & Distribution

BFKN regularly serves clients in the Manufacturing & Distribution industry. Our attorneys provide practical problem solving for companies involved in manufacturing, logistics, and distribution, including those involved in e-commerce and those who rely on dealer and supplier networks to sell and market their products. With more than 30 attorneys with significant industry knowledge and supply chain representation, BFKN uses its extensive experience to address our clients’ business problems in the following areas:

Counseling

• Franchise and distribution matters and regulatory concerns, including structuring programs and initiatives that involve parts distribution, service operations, and fleet sales and service; “over-the-air” transmission of software repairs and updates; drafting and implementing dealer network policies and guidelines; structuring and drafting market action agreements and other arrangements with dealers.
• Commercial matters and intellectual property matters, including reviewing and drafting a broad range of commercial agreements with third party service providers and suppliers and general terms and conditions of sale.
• Emerging privacy concerns regarding protection and legality of use of customer data by manufacturers/distributors and dealers in the face of new federal and state statutes.
• Defense of incentive and performance bonus programs.
• Network and brand launches.
• Warranty issues and audits.
• Supplier Conduct Guidelines.
• The marketing and sale of extended warranties, service contracts, and maintenance plans, including client branded and white label programs.

Litigation

• Network litigation.
• Customer/supplier commercial disputes.
• Obligations under distributor agreements.
• Enforcement of commercial contracts.
• Defense against wrongful terminations.
• Disputes regarding compliance with requirement contracts.
• Products liability disputes.
• Royalty licensing disputes involving complex contract and intellectual property issues.

Transactions

• Business transactions, including dealership add-points, ownership changes and sales, rights of first refusal, and dealer/franchise terminations.
• Domestic and international supply chain contracts, including manufacturing, distribution, and reseller arrangements and customer/vendor terms and conditions.
• Mergers, acquisitions, and dispositions of companies and business units.
• Joint ventures and strategic relationships.
• Co-branding contracts.
• Private label agreements.
• Fleet agreements.
• Professional services agreements.
• Exclusive requirements and output contracts.
• Raw material and equipment acquisitions and dispositions.

One of the key strengths of BFKN in managing these issues for our clients is our emphasis on team collaboration. Because effective representation draws from many different areas of the law, our team members emphasize communication between our practice groups and sharing of knowledge and skill sets. In addition to working on project teams, which are frequently diversified with members of our litigation and corporate/transactional teams, we emphasize the importance of industry training and group-wide meetings to improve our effectiveness as a collective whole. By working as a unified team, our clients experience a seamless transition as they engage our attorneys across these practice areas.

Industry Contacts