.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}
Tech Bankruptcy
April 19, 2009
  Supreme Court Denies Cert in NCP Marketing Case - Kennedy and Breyer Signal Preference for Actual Test
About a month ago the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in the NCP Marketing Case. A link to the denial is here. Robert Eisenbach provides a detailed analysis of why this is significant in a March 26, 2009, post on his In the Red Blog.

In a nutshell, the NCP Marketing case dealt with the ability of a debtor to assume a trademark license. The bankruptcy court held that the license had been terminated pre-petition, and therefore could not be assumed. It also stated, in dicta, (and in my opinion incorrectly) that the trademark license was not assignable as a matter of common law and therefore, under applicable law in the 9th circuit, not assumable. Appeals ensued and the decision was affirmed at each step. 

What makes the denial of certiorari in this case interesting is that two justices, Kennedy and Breyer, felt the need to issue a statement on the matter. While they agreed that denial of certiorari was appropriate in this particular case, they welcomed the opportunity to hear a case on the issue of whether the actual test or the hypothetical test is the correct test for analyzing section 365(c). And, from Judge Kennedy's comments, it seemed likely that they would support adoption of the actual test.

I would note that these are only two justices and they are among those more likely to support the policy driven reasons for adopting the actual test as opposed to the strict statutory construction theories behind the hypothetical test. On the other hand, only four Justices are needed to grant certiorary and it seems likely that Kennedy and Breyer would not have signaled their interest in taking a case on this issue if they expected the outcome to go against their viewpoints.

Labels: , , ,

 
Comments: Post a Comment



<< Home
A blog discussing the impact of technology on bankruptcy law and practice.

rss Subscribe to Posts

My Photo
Name:
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Warren E. Agin is a partner in Swiggart & Agin, LLC, a boutique law firm in Boston, Massachusetts focusing on the needs of technology companies. Mr. Agin heads its bankruptcy department. The author of the book Bankruptcy and Secured Lending in Cyberspace (3rd Ed. West 2005), Mr. Agin also chaired the ABA's E-commerce and Insolvency Subcommittee from 1999 to 2005, co-chaired the Boston Bar Association's Internet and Computer Law Committee (2003-2005), and served on the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Technology and Information Services (2008-2011). Mr. Agin currently co-chairs the Editorial Board of Business Law Today. A contributing editor to Norton Bankruptcy Law and Practice, 3d, and co-author of its chapter on intellectual property for the past fifteen years, he is author of numerous legal articles and addresses on topics of technology, internet and bankruptcy law.

ALL POSTS
Supreme Court Denies Cert in NCP Marketing Case - Kennedy and Breyer Signal Preference for Actual Test
ARCHIVES
August 2004 / October 2006 / November 2006 / December 2006 / February 2007 / March 2007 / April 2007 / May 2007 / June 2007 / July 2007 / September 2007 / October 2007 / November 2007 / February 2008 / March 2008 / April 2008 / September 2008 / October 2008 / November 2008 / December 2008 / January 2009 / February 2009 / March 2009 / April 2009 / August 2009 / January 2010 / February 2010 / March 2010 / April 2010 / November 2013 / December 2013 / January 2014 / February 2014 / March 2014 / April 2014 / May 2014 / June 2014 / November 2014 /


Powered by Blogger