Maine Revised Statutes Title 10. Commerce and Trade § 1361. Definitions

1. Dealer. “Dealer” means a person located within this State who sells goods or solicits or advertises the sale of goods to the public. “Dealer” does not include receivers, trustees, administrators, executors, guardians or other persons appointed by or acting under judgment, decree or order of any court nor does it include public officers performing their duties as officers.

2. Distributor. “Distributor” means a person who sells or distributes goods to dealers of those goods.

3. Franchise. “Franchise” means an oral or written arrangement for a definite or indefinite period pursuant to which a manufacturer grants to a dealer or distributor of goods a license to use a trade name, trademark, service mark or related characteristic and in which there is a community of interest in the marketing of goods and related services at wholesale, retail, by leasing or otherwise.

4. Franchisee. “Franchisee” means a person, dealer or distributor of goods located within this State to whom a franchise is offered or granted.

5. Franchisor. “Franchisor” means a manufacturer who grants a franchise to a distributor or dealer of goods.

6. Fraud. “Fraud” includes, in addition to its normal legal connotation, a misrepresentation, whether intentionally false or due to gross negligence, of a material fact, a promise or a representation not made honestly and in good faith and an intentional failure to disclose a material fact.

7. Good faith. “Good faith” means honesty in fact and the observance of reasonable commercial standards of fair dealing in the trade as defined and interpreted in the Uniform Commercial Code, Title 11, section 1-1201, subsection (20).

8. Goods. “Goods” means residential, recreational, agricultural, farm, commercial or business equipment, machinery or appliances that use electricity, gas, wood, a petroleum product or a derivative of a petroleum product for operation. “Goods” does not include motor vehicles as defined in section 1171, subsection 11 and recreational vehicles as defined in section 1432, subsection 18-A.

9. Manufacturer. “Manufacturer” means a person, partnership, firm, association, corporation or trust, resident or nonresident, who manufactures, assembles or imports goods for distribution through distributors or a partnership, firm, association, joint venture, corporation or trust, resident or nonresident, that is controlled by such an entity.

10. Person. “Person” means a natural person, corporation, partnership, trust or other entity and, in the case of an entity, includes any other entity in which it has a majority interest or effective control as well as the individual officers, directors and other persons in active control of the activities of each entity.

11. Sale. “Sale” means the issuance, transfer, agreement for transfer, exchange, pledge, hypothecation or mortgage in any form, whether by transfer in trust or otherwise, of goods or interest in goods or of any franchise related to those goods and any option, subscription or other contract, solicitation looking to a sale or offer or attempt to sell in any form, whether spoken or written. A gift or delivery of goods or equipment or a franchise with respect to those goods or equipment, with or as a bonus on account of a sale, is deemed a sale of the goods, equipment or franchise.