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<section article="gbr" article_name="Business Regulation" number="14-104" title_number="14" title_name="Business Opportunities, Franchises, and Multilevel Distribution Companies" subtitle_number="1" subtitle_name="Business Opportunities">
  <level label="a">
    <text>This subtitle does not apply to:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>a sale of an ongoing business if the owner of the business sells and intends to sell only that one business opportunity;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>a not-for-profit sale, for less than $500, of sales demonstration equipment, materials, or samples;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>an offer to sell or sale of a franchise registered or exempt from registration under Subtitle 2 of this title;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="4">
      <text>an offer to sell or sale of a business if the offer or sale is regulated under the Maryland Gasohol and Gasoline Products Marketing Act or the federal Petroleum Marketing Practices Act;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="5">
      <text>an offer to sell or sale of a business opportunity with a marketing plan made in conjunction with the licensing of a federally registered trademark or service mark, provided that the seller has a minimum net worth of $1,000,000 as determined on the basis of the seller’s most recent audited financial statement prepared within 13 months of the first offer that the seller makes in the State; or</text>
    </level>
    <level label="6">
      <text>any other sale or transaction if the Commissioner:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>exempts the sale or transaction, by regulation or order, as not being within the purposes of this subtitle; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>finds the registration of the sale or transaction to be unnecessary, inappropriate, not in the public interest, or not for the protection of investors.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="b">
    <text>Net worth may be determined on a consolidated basis if:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>at least 80% of the seller is owned by one person; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>the person that owns at least 80% of the seller expressly guarantees the obligations of the seller with regard to the offer or sale of a business opportunity that the seller seeks to exclude under this paragraph.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
</section>
