7 ms·
What’s the strategy here for valuing the patents so low? I don’t see the point.
by monochromatic 8y ago
What’s the strategy here for valuing the patents so low? I don’t see the point.
- hobofan 8y agoInsolvency fraud.
- monochromatic 8y agoPlease explain.
- nkrisc 8y agoGenerally, I think, to claim they have no valuable assets and can't pay any creditors.
- conistonwater 8y agoThat doesn't make sense to me, if the company declares the value of its assets as being lower than what it is, it means the creditors get a proportionally bigger share of the assets to cover their nominal debt that has a fixed value.
- chongli 8y agoThe only assets are these patents which will be sold at auction for pennies on the dollar. The creditors will get nothing. The lawyers running the scam will get contracted by the new holding company and the game will begin again.
- monochromatic 8y agoBut won’t the bankruptcy court be auctioning off these assets? Who cares what value the company says they’re worth when we’re about to find out the actual market value?
- hobofan 8y agoBancruptcy court only gets involved when it has been determined that the company doesn't have enough money to pay off all their debts. Currently the company is undergoing volunatry liquidation, a phase during which they try to come to an agreement over their outstanding debts with their creditors, and try to make deals to prevent the worst case of having any outstanding debts at the end. At the same time they liquidate all their assets, so they can pay their creditors. You usually have better negotion skill/market insight/etc., so you can sell your assets at a higher price than the bancruptcy court would. Usually, you would auction off the assets for the highest price in order to prevent insolvency, but here it seems they thought it would be better to try and defraud the creditors of their money.
- cdolan 8y agoThat’s not what happens in voluntary chapter 7 bankruptcy. The Trustee takes the assets and auctions it. You are thinking of ch. 11
- hobofan 8y agoOh sorry, you are probably right there. I don't know the US system in detail and from a quick search, it looked like ch.7 would be the same stuff I've had experience with in Germany.
- PeterisP 8y agoAssets get sold off at an auction. Some company controlled by the same owners bids $2 or $2000 or something comparably irrelevant for the patent portfolio, because only a patent troll needs these trash patents, and all the other patent trolls already have their packs. The creditors of the insolvent get these pennies, but the previous owners continue their patent trolling business under a new company and name with the same bad patents.
- dwild 8y agoWhat's the alternative? They value it at 423,000$ and they give that to their creditor instead? Can they really do that and would it be better? How so?
- thrmsforbfast 8y agoWell, no, generally they can't shove it off on their creditor and say "there we're even", if that's what you mean. There's a whole field of law about bankruptcy. In particular, questions about how to value assets are obviously a big component of bankruptcy law. I imagine "it's complicated" when it comes to intangible/intellectual property like patents, brands, etc.
- monochromatic 8y agoIf the patents have some assertion value, what are the odds that only one company in the world will recognize that?