Contracts Commons^™

Hostile Restructurings, Diane L. Dick

Washington Law Review

The conventional wisdom holds that out-of-court loan restructurings are mostly consensual and collaborative. But this is no longer accurate. Highly aggressive, nonconsensual restructuring transactions—what I call “hostile restructurings”—are becoming a common feature of the capital markets. Relying on hypertechnical interpretations of loan agreements, one increasingly popular hostile restructuring method involves issuing new debt that enjoys higher priority than the existing debt; another involves transferring the most valuable collateral away from existing lenders to secure new borrowing.

These transactions are distinguishable from normal out-of-court restructurings by their use of coercive tactics to overcome not only the traditional minority lender holdout problem, …

Software Distribution Agreements And Bankruptcy: The Licensor's Perspective, J. Dianne Brinson

Washington Law Review

This Article addresses a special problem within the software-industry—licensee bankruptcy and the need to protect the rights of licensors in the software. Although federal law now protects the rights of a software licensee in the technology when a licensor undergoes bankruptcy, little guidance exists as to the effects of licensee bankruptcy upon the software licensor. This Article thoroughly reviews the relevant bankruptcy and copyright law as they relate to the computer software area, and then discusses why a licensor should consider avoiding the possibility of a software license being treated as an executory contract. The author concludes by offering practical …