This article appeared in The Bankruptcy Strategist, featuring the strategies and techniques devised by the country’s top bankruptcy lawyers and reports on innovative procedural techniques, legislative developments and recent judicial rulings — plus what they mean for you and your clients.
In Mission Product Holdings, Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC, 139 S. Ct. 1652 (2019), the Supreme Court undertakes to resolve a circuit split between the First and Seventh Circuits over the effect of rejection in bankruptcy of a trademark license under section 365 of the Bankruptcy Code. The question is whether a debtor’s rejection of its agreement granting a license “terminates rights of the licensee that would survive the licensor’s breach under applicable nonbankruptcy law.” (Pet. for Cert. i.) Those rights include the right to continue to use the trademarks for the term of the rejected agreement.
