General Motors LLC (“New GM”) came into being in the summer of 2009, when it acquired substantially all of the assets of General Motors Corporation (“Old GM”) in a sale undertaken pursuant to section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code.  The July 2009 Sale Order approved by U.S.

For 40 years, Scott L. Baena, a senior partner of Bilzin Sumberg and chair of the firm’s Restructuring and Bankruptcy Group, has witnessed drastic changes in the practice of bankruptcy law. It has emerged, he recently told a group students, from a “small arcane undesirable practice” to a sophisticated subset of the legal profession where specialists navigate a matrix of rules designed to give debtors and creditors a level playing field to resolve their financial disputes.

On August 29, 2014, Judge John T.

Intellectual property (“IP”) can act as collateral to be pledged to secure an extension of credit.  For example, a company that borrows money from a bank can pledge its patents as collateral for the loan.  The bank (referred to as the “secured creditor”) in this case will of course want to make sure that its security interest in the IP can be enforced against the borrower if the borrower defaults on the loan.

What Happens to Your Security Interest in a Debtor’s Intellectual Property in Bankruptcy?

Bankruptcy Remote? Maybe Not

The intersection of bankruptcy law and intellectual property law is not a very nice neighborhood. Anyone dealing with intellectual property license agreements must think about how these agreements are affected if one party to the agreement becomes insolvent. Below are strategies to help parties draft license agreements that will pass through this intersection relatively safely.

Bankruptcy Concepts

Energy industry bankruptcies of all types are expected to increase, offering an opportunity for companies to acquire assets for their operating portfolios while taking advantage of the bankruptcy process. We have received numerous inquiries about how the bankruptcy process can be used to acquire assets. This Insight provides answers to frequently asked questions about what is known as the 363 or "stalking horse" bankruptcy auction process.

WHAT IS THE OPPORTUNITY?

A recent bankruptcy auction of a Texas powerplant by Optim Energy LLC provided an important lesson for potential bidders at bankruptcy auctions and their representatives on the importance of developing a clear bidding strategy in advance of the auction, and making sure the representative understands both the bidding strategy and the scope of his or her authority at the auction sale.

In 1932, J. Howard Marshall and William O.

Nonrecourse financing is common in today's commercial real estate lending market. So too are the use of special purpose entities ("SPEs") and limited guaranties from SPE members of all or a portion of the debt, the latter of which may be triggered by the voluntary bankruptcy case of, or the consent to the entry of an order for relief in an involuntary bankruptcy case filed against, the SPE borrower.