The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that bankrupt trademark licensors cannot use federal bankruptcy law to rescind the rights of their trademark licensees to continue use of duly licensed trademarks. The decision settles a long-simmering circuit split on a question that the International Trademark Association has labelled “the most significant unresolved legal issue in trademark licensing.”
There has been considerable controversy about the extent of the powers, and the extent of obligations of a business rescue practitioner in relation to a cession of book debts by the company in rescue.
This is an important issue in business rescue because most financially distressed companies have an overdraft facility with a bank which is secured by a cession of debtors. Many practitioners want or need to use the overdraft facility as working capital.
Cession (generally)
The Spanish Council of Ministers passed on 7 March 2014 the Royal Decree-Law 4/2014, on urgent matters in relation to refinancing agreements and debt restructuring (the "RDL 4/2014"). The RDL 4/2014 has been published on 8 March 2014 in the Spanish Official Gazette and it entered into force on the day immediately following its publication.
Introduction
A purchaser of assets from a debtor in bankruptcy may not be able to rely entirely on bankruptcy court approval of the sale to bar a claim arising long after the sale and based on a claimed defect in a product sold by the debtor years prior to its bankruptcy.
Although bankruptcy court sale orders routinely shield asset purchasers from successor liability claims, that protection is not unlimited, particularly where a claimant did not and could not have received notice of the sale.
- INTRODUCTION
A simple, clear and effective insolvency regime is a vital element in attracting both domestic and foreign investment in a jurisdiction like Russia. To be effective, an insolvency regime has to balance the interests of various classes of creditors, as well as the interests of creditors generally in relation to other interested parties, such as shareholders or participants. An insolvency regime is expected to give the debtor an opportunity to discharge its obligations and continue its business activity.
Guidance published by HMRC in its Corporate Finance Manual has recently been updated to reflect a change in practice regarding the corporation tax treatment of debt for equity swaps.
Debt for equity swaps are commonly used in corporate restructuring, particularly when a company is in financial difficulty. They may also be encountered in the termination of joint venture arrangements where, prior to the sale of shares in the joint venture company by one co-venturer to the other, the parties wish to convert any loans made to the company into shares.
His Honour Judge Purle QC in Re Cornercare Limited [2010] EWHC 393 (CH) has clarified English law on the filing of successive notices of intention to appoint administrators. He has held that there is nothing in the relevant provisions of the Insolvency Act 1986 ("IA 1986") to prevent the filing of successive notices of intention to appoint administrators, where the original notice of intention to appoint an administrator had not been acted upon for good reason.
Throughout the global economic meltdown, the number of bankruptcy cases in China has risen considerably. To shed light on bankruptcy proceedings and stabilize the domestic economy, the Supreme People’s Court of the PRC issued Opinions on Several Issues Regarding the Proper Adjudication of Enterprise Bankruptcy Cases to Provide a Judicial Safeguard for Maintaining Order in the Market Economy on June 12, 2009. The Opinions direct courts at all levels to properly apply the Enterprise Bankruptcy Law (EBL) to assist insolvent enterprises, maintain market order, and stabilize the economy.
In light of the recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the subsequent determination of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) to commence a proceeding placing Lehman Brothers Inc.