Franchise lawyers will gather at the 34th ABA Forum on Franchising from October 19-21. Co-chair Mike Lindsey told me he thinks attorneys attending this year's event will be abuzz about several major lawsuits.

CNBC has now queued up "Behind the counter, the Untold Story of Franchising" for airing on April 5. The program, originally broadcast in December, marked the first time that there had been an hour-long documentary covering the franchise industry. I'm pleased to say that Blue MauMau was the main outside guidance to the show, from beginning to end.

I love this quote that appears in today's Quotables block on the front page. It reminds me of many stories that I have reported in this journal and the bravery it takes to put up the good fight.

Mediator William Ury, author of "Getting to Yes," offers an elegantly simple (but not easy) way to create agreement in even the most difficult situations. Think Middle East.

A major creator of franchisor start-ups says that a business is a good candidate to be franchised if it has these twelve attributes.