A License to Kill: Executory IP Contracts, Licenses and Intellectual Property Transactions in Bankruptcy

Honorable Thomas B. McNamara, Judge, U.S. Bankruptcy Court-District of Colorado, was appointed, effective March 2015, to the bankruptcy bench. Prior to his appointment, Judge McNamara was a partner at the Denver law firm of Davis Graham and Stubbs LLP, and represented clients in courtrooms across the country and internationally in dispute resolution, bankruptcy, and regulatory matters in the natural resources, banking, securities, financial services, telecommunications, geospatial imaging, hospitality, and consumer products industries.

Elizabeth Rose Loveridge has more than 25 years of bankruptcy legal experience. Liza has served as a panel chapter 7 trustee for the District of Utah since 1998. She has been working in the area of bankruptcy law since graduating from University of Wisconsin Law School in 1991.

Liza has represented creditors, debtors and trustees in chapter 11, chapter 7 and chapter 13 bankruptcy cases. Liza’s bankruptcy experience also extends to bankruptcy crimes having been the chief witness in several bankruptcy criminal actions, including the case of U.S. v. Hale, 762 F.3d 1214 (10th Cir. 2014).

She has served as chair of the Bankruptcy Section of the Utah State Bar, as trustee of the Utah Bankruptcy Lawyers Forum, and was recognized by Utah Business Magazine as “Utah Legal Elite.”  She is admitted to the Utah State Bar and the Wisconsin State Bar.

Liza has written and presented on bankruptcy law at the 2018 Utah State District Court Judges Conference, the American Bankruptcy Institute Rocky Mountain Bankruptcy Conference,  the National Business Institute and the Utah Bankruptcy Lawyers Forum.

Eric Johnson is a Member in Sherman & Howard’s Litigation Department and has over 25 years of experience in bankruptcy, debtor-creditor, financial restructuring and workout matters. He is dedicated to using his expertise to protect creditors’ and investors’ financial rights, and assisting businesses to successfully manage insolvency risks in their business transactions. Eric has helped many secured and unsecured creditors to maximize their recoveries and minimize losses in situations involving defaults or bankruptcy, and has led many successful distressed merger and acquisition transactions in the electronics, trucking, oil and gas, mining, pharmaceutical and sports industries. He also works frequently to structure, document and workout complex secured and unsecured financing transactions for institutional lenders and other business clients.

Chad Caby's practice includes representation of corporate creditors, debtors, and trustees in bankruptcy and ?insolvency proceedings, as well as workouts and restructuring entities outside of court. Chad has represented Debtors, Creditors and Monitors in several Chapter 15 cross-border insolvency cases filed in the District of Wyoming and Colorado. He also regularly represents banks and secured creditors in general commercial litigation.?

Weston Anson is Chairman of CONSOR?, an intellectual asset consulting firm specializing in trademark, patent and copyright licensing, valuations, and expert testimony. The firm is headquartered in La Jolla, California, and has offices in New York and London. He served for ten years as an officer and board member of the Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association and is a lifetime member of the Board of Advisors. He currently serves as an active member of the International Licensing Executives Society board of delegates.

A seasoned consumer goods marketer, after receiving his MBA (honors) from Harvard University, he served a stint with the management consulting firm of Booz-Allen & Hamilton. Subsequently, he was the youngest Vice-President and corporate officer at Playboy Enterprises, Inc., where he launched many of their licensing programs. Mr. Anson was also Senior Vice President of Hang Ten International, which grew to nearly 100 licensees in 30 countries under his direction. For the last 25 years, Mr. Anson has also led the way in developing and establishing accepted methods to value brands, technologies and other IP.

He is an expert in building and licensing brands, as well as developing and managing licensing programs for all IP. Not only is a branding and licensing expert, Mr. Anson also an acknowledged pioneer in developing the methodologies that enable accurate valuation of IP on a worldwide basis. His multiple books on the subject have been published in the U.S. as well as in Europe and China. He was chairman of the Global Valuation Standards Committee for the LESI, which established IP Valuation standards in cross border IP transactions. These standards were adopted in 2011 at the Global Technology Forum, which included World IP bodies such as World Intellectual Property Organization, World Trade Organization and the Association of University Technology Managers.

Since founding CONSOR (and its predecessor company Trademark & Licensing Associates), Mr. Anson has developed numerous licensing strategies for major corporations and has performed valuations of hundreds of intellectual property components including: Caterpillar, Inc., Chevron, Estate of Dr. Seuss, Donna Karan, Amazon.com, DuPont, Ford Motor Company, General Motors Corporation, Hard Rock Caf?, Harrods, Hilton, IBM, L.L. Bean, Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., L’Oreal, Louisville Slugger, Lucasfilm, Ltd., Macy’s, The Estate of Marlon Brando, Marvel, Mattel, McDonald’s Corporation, MGM/UA, NCR, The Olympics, PepsiCo, Polaroid, Polo/Ralph Lauren, Procter & Gamble, QVC, Sara Lee, Sesame Street, Sloan Kettering, Sony Corporation, the Vatican Library and Xerox Corporation. As an important part of his career today, Mr. Anson is a world renowned IP expert with testifying experience in the United Kingdom, Europe, and in state, federal, tax, bankruptcy and probate courts in the U.S.; as well as in arbitration and mediation. In trial testimony, multiple depositions, and numerous rule 26 reports, his expertise has been established and reaffirmed. Litigation clients include roughly half of the largest 100 U.S. law firms. Notable cases range from: the largest trademark jury award in history to adidas of $304.6 million; the successful litigation of Woody Allen vs. American Apparel: a $5 million settlement in a right of privacy and publicity case; the Upaid Systems matter: a $70 million settlement in a computer/telecom patent case; and the Chevron-Donzinger/Ecuador case: decision barred Ecuador from collecting a $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron. In addition Mr. Anson has been involved in other famous cases, such as the landmark Jesse Ventura case in which the eighth circuit court of appeals noted “Anson's qualifications are quite impressive, and certainly more so than those of some experts whose testimony this court has permitted.”