Know-how (savoir-faire)
The body of secret, substantial and identified practical knowledge built from the franchisor’s experience that enables the concept to be reproduced successfully by others. Without transmissible know-how, a franchise is simply a trademark licence.
In practice
Know-how materialises in the operations manual and training programme: procedures, tools, performance indicators, professional techniques. Courts assess its substance — what an informed professional could not have discovered independently. Keeping it current is an ongoing obligation: know-how that stops evolving ceases to be an advantage, then ceases to be legally defensible.