BusinessBankruptcyBlog

It hasn't gotten much publicity yet, but certain dollar amounts in the Bankruptcy Code will be increased for new cases filed on or after April 1, 2013. Follow this link for a chart listing all of the changes on this Federal Register page, which printed this month's official notice from the Judicial Conference of the United States.

Among the most meaningful increases for Chapter 11 and other business bankruptcy cases:

On July 9, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued its decision in Sunbeam Products, Inc. v. Chicago American Manufacturing, LLC, and in doing so handed a major victory to trademark licensees whose licenses are rejected in bankruptcy by trademark owners. A copy of the opinion is available through this link. However, before discussing the details of the opinion, it's important to put it in context first. And for that, we need to journey back to the 1980s.

When a company is facing financial distress, the question often comes up whether creditors can "force" the company into bankruptcy. Although the answer is more complicated than it may seem, this post aims to sort out what being "forced into bankruptcy" really means (hint: there are two different ways this can happen) and why it matters to companies and creditors.

Bankruptcy Rule Amendments. As reported in a post last month, this year's amendments to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure have now taken effect today, December 1, 2011.

Almost every year, changes are made to the set of rules that govern how bankruptcy cases are managed -- the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure. The changes address issues identified by an Advisory Committee made up of federal judges, bankruptcy attorneys, and others. There are seven amendments to the national bankruptcy rules this year.