Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Patent Law Blogs -> IPBiz

Patent Law

: IPBiz

Balsillie of RIM blazing new legal trails?

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

Remember NTP vs. RIM, and the $612.5 million settlement? Jim Balsillie's offer of $242.5 million for the Phoenix Coyotes is making news in another legal area, that of bankruptcy:

The Toronto Star notes:

The league [the National Hockey League] also has the support of the other major pro sports leagues, which don't want a bankruptcy judge to force an owner [eg, Balsillie] and a market on a league that wants neither.

Bruce Arthur of the National Post writes:

All the man [Balsillie] wants to do is hijack the team via bankruptcy, steal away to Hamilton as soon as he possibly can, and live happy ever after, with the possible exception of uncomfortable NHL board of governors meetings.

In the other corner lurks the NHL itself, Balsillie's mortal enemy, which has seen its claims that there are plenty of interested potential owners for the team evaporate into the desert air. All the league wants is for anybody but Balsillie to own the team, since the man is clearly a dangerous renegade, rejected by the league's owners because of his low moral character.

Full post as published by IPBiz on September 11, 2009 (boomark / email).