Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Handling US IP licensees in bankruptcy

The advance access service of the Oxford University Press monthly Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice (JIPLP) carries an article which may be of interest to some readers of this weblog. Entitled "Handling US trade mark licensees in bankruptcy", it is written by Oliver Herzfeld and Richard R. Bergovoy.

Oliver is SVP and Chief Legal Officer of brand licensing consultancy Beanstalk, while Richard is an attorney in private practice who works with companies that own, sell, or license IP and information technology, with experience of acting as counsel in very many bankruptcy cases. According to the abstract,
"Legal context. The article provides an overview of the main issues faced and decisions to be made by a trade mark licensor whose licensee has filed for bankruptcy in the United States. 
Key points and practical significance. It covers the following four permutations (i) if the licensee seeks to assume and the licensor consents, (ii) if the licensee seeks to assume and the licensor objects, (iii) if the licensee seeks to reject and the licensor consents, and (iv) if the licensee seeks to reject and the licensor objects. The article also covers trade mark license agreement performance after a bankruptcy filing".
This article is available to JIPLP's online subscribers now, and will be included in one of the forthcoming print issues.  Non-subscribers to the journal can access it on a short-term pay-per-view basis by registering with JIPLP and paying the access fee.