"That's Not Me": Trademark Identity Theft
By: Jack Santaniello
So you've spent years creating, designing and using the perfect words, designs and symbols to represent your business. While Googling, Facebooking, E-Baying, or doing something else in front of a computer or television screen, you happen to notice your business logo on the screen. As you look closer, you realize it's not your mark, but something that looks like it. What do you do?
Businesses are identified by their brand - the words and symbols linking certain products or services back to a business. Many business owners gloss over the true value of their marks and, therefore, do not pay much attention to protecting them. According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), intellectual property theft causes losses to businesses estimated to be in excess of $250 billion dollars per year and 750,000 lost jobs annually. Trademark protection prevents others from profiting off of the brands and goodwill businesses have developed for themselves.
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Jack Santaniello is a partner in the corporate, franchising and intellectual property law practice groups in the firm's Charlotte Office.
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Chapter 11: A Primer on Preference Claims
By: David H. Conaway
This article was published in the Spring 2011 edition of Eurofenix.
A consequence of the global recession is the increase of Chapter 11 filings by United States based companies. For non-U.S. vendors of such Chapter 11 debtors, it is important to understand the key provisions of Chapter 11 to mitigate risks and potential losses. A prominent feature of Chapter 11 cases in the United States is the debtor's ability to recover "preference payments," essentially payments made to vendors 90 days prior to the Chapter 11 filing. For vendors, this is a particularly unpopular aspect of Chapter 11 cases, since the vendor has likely already sustained a write-off of accounts receivable existing at the time of the Chapter 11 filing. After imposing that loss on a vendor, the debtor has two years after the Chapter 11 filing to sue the vendor to recover payments that were made by the debtor in the 90 day period prior to the Chapter 11 filing. As a result of this, vendors must evaluate potential preference exposure to understand the full potential loss arising from a U.S. customer's Chapter 11 filing.
Under Section 547 of the Bankruptcy Code, a preference is a transfer of property of a bankruptcy debtor that (1) was to or for the benefit of a vendor; (2) was on account of an antecedent debt; (3) was made while the debtor was insolvent; (4) was made within 90 days of the filing of the bankruptcy petition; and (5) allowed the vendor to receive more than the vendor would receive in a hypothetical liquidation of the debtor.
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David Conaway is a partner in the bankruptcy, workouts, commercial transactions, and international transactions law practice groups in the firm's Charlotte Office.
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