Tempnology and Janger Too!

The Supreme Court granted cert today in the bankruptcy case of Mission Product Holdings v. Tempnology, LLC. It sounds like another one of those cases only bankruptcy nerds can love, but it has potentially broad implications. On its face, it is about trademark licenses, but the Supreme Court could fix some case law about all contracts in bankruptcy. Several Credit Slips bloggers (including me) signed a "law professors" amicus brief in support of certiorari. 

I asked the inimitable Professor Ted Janger of Brooklyn Law School (and former Credit Slips guest blogger) to write with his thoughts on the case. Ted had a lot to do with the professors' brief. Here is what he wrote:

The split in the lower courts arose when the First Circuit inexplicably resuscitated the questionable proposition, first articulated in Lubrizol Enters., Inc. v. Richmond Metal Finishers, Inc., 756 F.2d 1043 (4th Cir. 1985), that rejection of an intellectual property license rescinds that license and terminates the licensee’s rights. Congress reversed Lubrizol for copyright and patent by enacting section 365(n), and in 2012, the Seventh Circuit rejected the reasoning of Lubrizol for trademarks, in Sunbeam Prods., Inc. v. Chi. Am. Mfg., LLC, 686 F.3d 372 (7th Cir. 2012). While there remained some question as to the continued vitality of Lubrizol outside the patent and copyright context, the holding was, at best moribund. At least, that is, until the First Circuit’s decision in Tempnology.

Passing of Ian Fletcher

It is with great sadness that the news reached my desk of the passing of Professor Ian Fletcher of University College London. Ian was a leading international insolvency expert, well known to all of us at Credit Slips, and we extend our condolences to his family and friends. Professor Bob Wessels has a tribute.

It's Been Twelve Years

Today is the twelfth anniversary of the Credit Slips launch date. I always like to mark the date because it is hard to believe that it has been that long. When we started, Barack Obama was a senator, and Elizabeth Warren was blogging (for us and others). The solar system had nine planets. Worldcom was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, and we were trying to parse the meaning of the not-always-clear bankruptcy amendments in 2005. OK, we are still trying to do the latter.

Happy birthday to us. Thanks for reading.

And, yes, that is a picture of Zachary Taylor.

Student Loans and Other Doings for the ABI Consumer Bankruptcy Commission

The American Bankruptcy Institute's Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy has been hard at work (Full disclosure: I am the Commission's reporter.) Yesterday, the Commission submitted written comments to the Department of Education's request for information (RFI) on the "undue hardship" standard for the discharge of student loans in bankruptcy. As the Commissions make clear in the cover letter, our comments respond to the RFI and thus focus on what can be accomplished at the regulatory level. Recommendations for statutory change will appear in our final report. Indeed, we had intended to release only the complete set of recommendations at the end of our work, but given the Department of Education's RFI, the Commission voted to release its recommendations that were responsive.

The Commission's recommendations fall into two broad categories. First, the Commission advocates for the adoption of bright-line rules that will identify persons for whom repayment of student loans will be an undue hardship, such as an existing governmental determination of disability or income below 150% of the federal poverty line. Second, the Commission made a number of recommendations around the judicially crafted Brunner test that courts use to determine undue hardship. You can read the full set of recommendations from the link above.

Welcome (Back) to Patricia McCoy

Credit Slips is pleased to welcome back Professor Patricia McCoy as a guest blogger. Professor McCoy is the Liberty Mutual Insurance Professor of Law at Boston College Law School. She is a nationally known scholar, writing in the area of consumer financial regulation area. Professor McCoy worked at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during its earliest days, and I understand some of her guest posts will offer her perspective on the current state of the CFPB. We look forward to her contributions.

Bankruptcy Venue Reform -- Yes, Again, But Maybe This Is the Time?

As many Credit Slips readers will know, chapter 11 venue reform has been an issue for decades. As corporate filers have flocked to the Southern District of New York and the District of Delaware, the real reason some observers say is that these courts favor corporate managers, dominant secured lenders, bankruptcy attorneys, or a combination of all of them. Regardless of the merits of these claims, it certainly undermines respect for the rule of law when faraway federal courts decide issues affecting local interests. A great example comes from right here in Champaign, Illinois, where local company Hobbico has recently filed chapter 11. The company, a large distributor of radio-control models and other hobby products, has more than $100 million in debt. The company has over 300 employees in the Champaign area who own the company through an employee stock ownership plan. Yet, the company's fortunes are now in the hands of a Delaware bankruptcy court.