From Blockbuster to Bankruptcy …. a tale of two entities
Some starter material (yeah, that’s right, the legal stuff above-the-fold):
PROTECTING YOUR RIGHTS TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN BANKRUPTCY
Protecting IP Rights From A Licensor’s Bankruptcy: What You Need To Know About
Section 365(n), Posted on July 30, 2009 by Bob Eisenbach
Protecting Your Rights to Intellectual Property in Bankruptcy; Meyner and Landis LLP
Photo: Creative Commons license, attribution required; http://www.flickr.com/photos/mwichary/2140380132/; Marcin Wichary
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Here is the best story I’ve found on the Blockbuster Bankruptcy:
and the link to the actual filing. http://www.kccllc.net/blockbuster …. and here’s some more after the jump
This is a list of dated (but excellent) background on the history and issues relating to Blockbuster.
http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/workshops/marketing/archive/winter09/lee_blockbuster_software.pdf
http://www.plu.edu/~clarkem/doc/strategic-analysis.pdf
http://www.texasgames.net/forum/file.php/1/docs/Crandall_VideoGamesSeriousBusiness_06.pdf
and lastly, a couple of updates from business sources:
Changing habits Killed Blockbuster (From Technews)
A Decade of Decline (From Fast Company magazine)
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And finally, here’s the pure commentary part you’ve been looking forward to (skipping?)…..
You may ask what’s this got to do with videogame law? Well, perhaps nothing. But before Target, Best Buy, and before Gamestop was famous for it, Blockbuster was selling off their used videogames. And of course you can walk in and “rent” a videogame. A decade or so ago you could actually “rent” a gaming platform to try it out.
If you ask almost anyone, Blockbuster is their second favorite place to rent a movie, and their second favorite place to rent a game. But it’s the reason there is Netflix and Gamefly. And now the leading place you can go in to “try out a game” is undergoing reorganization, you might discover “you don’t know what you have till it’s gone”.
If you’ve the guts and nerve to read the top-of-the-page resources about bankruptcy law, you might wonder whether Blockbuster will use the reorganization not only to restructure rental property arrangements, but to force changes in their agreements with video-game companies. But even though the listing (cited above) of the bankruptcy details several movie companies on the matrix of the bankruptcy filing….. didn’t see any game companies listed. Maybe the case will disclose whether or not the game companies have ongoing arrangements with Blockbuster… and lift the curtain exactly on “where they get all those marvelous toys?” (Sorry for the Batman movie reference).
Even the most optimistic gamer will have to worry and wonder about how this affects the rental of videogames longterm.
Jay Moffitt is a Tennessee attorney. This blog is for entertainment and educational purposes only and does not consitute legal advice or create an attorney/client relationship. Jay Moffitt is not certified as a specialist in this area by Tennessee and Tennessee does not certify specialists in this practice area. All comments will be answered promptly and courteously as long as they are germane to the discussion and do not contain specific game names or incidents.
Tags: Blockbuster, Blockbuster bankruptcy, Blockbuster Video, game rental, Gamefly, Netflix, renting games, Used games
