I get asked a lot by business owners who want to know if they can open another location of their business while co-owning it with someone else, and licensing the business model, in order to go around the franchise rule to avoid providing the franchise disclosure documents to franchisees. However this approach does not create an exemption to the franchise rule. If it walks like a franchise and talks likena franchise, it is a franchise, and the franchisor must follow the franchise law.