Posted
The former CEO of Hard Rock Park is asking the park's new owners, who purchased the property out of bankruptcy last month, for an annual $500,000 licensing fee and royalties, according to documents filed in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware. Steven Goodwin, the former CEO, said in an e-mail to the park's new owners, FPI MB Entertainment, that the park is still the intellectual property of a corporation he formed. He is asking for 1.5 percent of the park's revenues above $50 million, according to court documents.
Read more from The Sun News.
Brian Noble said:I believe the business term for the proper answer is "pound sand."
I thought the phrase went something like "Sure, after the AIG execs get THEIR bonuses...and Madoff gets some bailout money". The line that I keep hearing that absolutely makes me ROFL is "but we need to pay those bonuses to keep our best people"....if your BEST people get you billions into the whole, maybe instead you should try giving bonuses to your WORST people?
In either case, Goodwin has HUGE.....cojones. And probably an ego to match. Nonethless, he thinks more of himself than anyone else does....and hopefully his argument goes nowhere. On the other hand, will this park ever pull more than $50M in revenue in any given year (or maybe that's $50M total for all time?)...
If you're going to call it "intellectual property," then it was an asset, and the new owners bought those assets. You don't get to finish up Chapter 7 and then keep money generated by the business that replaces yours.
Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
Laughable. Unless it was clearly included in the contract, he sold his so-called intellectual property when he sold the park.
-Travis
www.youtube.com/TSVisits
I also think it's laughable that we compare the AIG guys to this guy.
Not even close to the same situation.
What seems to be interesting is that HRP Creative Services, LLC owns the trademarks to many of the rides & building names, not Hard Rock Park. Look it up at USPTO. So the park must have paid fees to HRP Creative for the names much like they did to Hard Rock International, the Moody Blues, etc. HRP Creative wasn't a part of the bankruptcy so they would still own the IP.
I'm no lawyer, but it looks like someone missed this during the bankruptcy due diligence. If Goodwin is right, the park either pays for the licenses or would have to change quite a bit more than just the Hard Rock brand. Would love to know the opinion of a trademark attorney on this.
Don't agree with it at all, but if its legal what can you do?
Court documents say Goodwin created a separate corporation, called HRP Creative Services Co. LLC, and created an agreement transferring the park's intellectual property from HRP Myrtle Beach Operations, one of the corporations that filed for bankruptcy, to the new corporation. Goodwin signed the agreement on behalf of both corporations.
Goodwin, Jon Binkowski and Felix Mussenden, the three original founders of the park, all have a stake in HRP Creative Services, according to the Web site of the Division of Corporations in Florida, where the corporation was formed.
I believe the legal term is fraudulent conveyance. The owners of the park are THE SAME as the owners of the "intellectual property."
Two things: 1) If HRP borrowed $$$ before seperating out the "intellectual property" the creditors have a lien against those rights as well. 2) If there is no legitimate financial reason to seperate out those rights, except to deny creditors access to assets that are rightfully theirs it is a fraud, and, hence, illegal.
I am not an expert--or even aware of the specifics--but it could very well be that the only reason to transfer these rights from the owners to the SAME owners doing business by a different name is an attempt to deprive creditors of assets that are rightfully theirs.
Note also, "Goodwin signed the agreement on behalf of both corporations." Courts HATE self-dealing. The court will almost certainly require HRP Creative Services to show that it PAID for those rights, and that the payment was consumate with with the value of the asset being transferred.
My bet is these guys transferred the rights without paying a dime. No court will accept that.
This Isn't A Hospital--It's An Insane Asylum!
^The first paragraph you quoted, and the first conclusion you drew (fraudulently-acquired assets of HRP Creative), is pretty much exactly why I said what I did. These are my inferences, and I'm totally willing to be wrong, but that's how it looks to me. If the corporation made money, Goodwin stood to make a ton of money from HRP. When it didn't, he created a "dummy corporation" to turn over the IP assets of the park. When the park went to bankruptcy, no mention of this holding company came up. If HRP Creative really does maintain some stake in the new park, then someone representing FPI MB completely failed to uncover this paperwork apparently filed in Florida? Something's not right....and it LOOKS to me like it's Goodwin in collusion with Binkowski and Mussenden. IF HRP Creative was supposed to be such a stakeholder in the original ownership agreements, the paperwork would have been filed back then...and someone other than Goodwin certainly would have been appointed to represent the original ownership in their dealings with HRP Creative. (Meaning he couldn't have signed on their behalf without some exceptional conflict-of-interest). Some of you are clearly better lawyer-types than me though...
You must be logged in to post