On Friday, October 26, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in what could be a landmark decision concerning trademark issues in bankruptcy. In Mission Product Holdings, Inc. v. Tempnology LLC, the Court will resolve a Circuit Court split and determine whether a debtor-licensor can strip away the rights of its trademark licensees by rejecting its trademark licensing agreements as part of its bankruptcy case.
Mission Product Holdings Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC, Case No. 17-1657, cert. granted (Oct. 26, 2018).
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case addressing the effect a trademark owner’s bankruptcy may have on a licensee’s right to continue to use a mark licensed before the bankruptcy was filed. The case presents an issue that has divided many courts, and may have far-reaching consequences for both trademark owners and trademark licensees.
On October 26, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a petition for a writ of certiorari in the case of Mission Product Holdings, Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC, to decide the issue of whether a debtor-licensor’s rejection of a trademark license agreement under section 365 of the Bankruptcy Code terminates the rights of the licensee to use the applicable trademarks. No. 17-1657, 2018 WL 2939184 (U.S. Oct. 26, 2018). The appeal arises from a decision by the U.S.
What happens to a trademark license when the brand owner goes bankrupt? This is a question to be addressed by the Supreme Court in Mission Product Holdings, Inc. v.
Happy birthday, Aubrey Drake Graham. Most people know Mr. Graham strictly by his middle name. The Canadian rapper Drake has carved out a hugely successful career for himself. He sells lots and lots of records – or whatever it is that they sell in the music business these days. Surprise: Drake’s music isn’t exactly our thing. We still play the Beatles more than anything else, we sing along with Crosby, Stills, & Nash in the car, and we have difficulty naming songs post-dating Nirvana.
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that could settle a decades-old debate surrounding the fate of trademark licenses in bankruptcy. The Supreme Court granted Mission Product Holdings’ petition for a writ of certiorari from the First Circuit’s decision in Mission Product Holdings, Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC.
Among the many protections afforded creditors under the Bankruptcy Code is the estate’s ability to avoid transfers made before the petition date that benefit certain creditors at the expense of others. These so-called avoidance actions are primarily governed by Sections 544, 547 and 548 of the Bankruptcy Code, which set forth the requirements for challenging prepetition transfers as preferential or fraudulent.
In hindsight, it seems inevitable that constitutional and other jurisdictional problems would arise when Congress, in enacting the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, created impressive new powers and responsibilities for the bankruptcy courts (along with a considerable degree of independence) but denied them the status of Article III courts under the Constitution (by denying its judges lifetime tenure, as Article III requires). And it didn’t take long for the problems to arise.
The United States Supreme Court recently declined to review the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit’s opinion in Momentive Performance Materials Inc. v. BOKF, NA. BOKF and Wilmington Trust, indenture trustees for Momentive’s First Lien Notes and 1.5 Lien Notes (which we’ll refer to as the “Senior Notes”) respectively, each submitted certiorari petitions after the Second Circuit held that they were not entitled to receive make-whole premiums following Momentive’s bankruptcy.
What Is a Make-Whole?