Intellectual Property Bid Package

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Intellectual Property Bid Package
Contact: Liquid Asset Partners 616.719.5917 for info
Buyers need to be pre-qualified 24 hours in advance to bid
Telephone Auction – April 23rd 1pm
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March 21, 2012
To Whom It May Concern:
Please accept this correspondence as the introduction from Liquid
Asset Partners LLC with regard to the Auction of Blonder Accents, LLC
Intellectual Property (Blonder IP). On January, 19th, 2012 the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court in Cleveland, OH appointed our firm to handle the sale of
the Blonder Accents IP (case 11-20552). We greatly appreciate your interest
in this opportunity and sincerely hope you will be able to join the auction.
Introduction
Contact: Liquid Asset Partners 616.719.5917 for info.
Telephone Auction – April 23rd 1pm.
Buyers must pre-qualify for the auction 24 hours in advance.
Lot 1: All of Blonder IP
Lot 2a: Wallcoverings portion of Blonder IP.
Lot 2b: Home Accents portion of Blonder IP.
Note: If the combined aggregate of lots 2a and 2b do not exceed the bid for
Lot 1, then the I.P. will be sold to only Lot 1. If the combined aggregates of
Lots 2a and 2b exceed Lot 1, then those portions will be separated (some
financial data will overlap, but the rights to the product lines of each will be
separated).
Company Teaser
Since 1918, Blonder has been one of the nation’s largest providers of
wallcovering and home décor accessories. Blonder was known for its
wallcoverings, including wallpaper, borders, wall murals, and appliqués.
Blonder also offered home décor accessories for bath, kitchen, and
entertaining, including coordinating textiles. They also had brand
partnerships with April Cornell and Jim Shore. Blonder products
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complement every lifestyle and bring total style coordination to the home.
Blonder had manufacturing partners all over the world and maintained a
showroom for their home décor accessories in New York City. Their
customers throughout North America include specialty and gift shop dealers,
decorating centers, home improvement stores, and other national and
regional retailers. Blonder: “Our passion is creating great home décor
design, style and value for our customers to offer to consumers of all ages
and walks of life.”
Sales History
2003 - $64 million +
2004 - $53 million +
2009 - $30 million +
2010 - $18 million +
2011 - $7.5 million +
Markets
Blonder was in two distinct industries: Wallcoverings and Home
Accents. Their wallcoverings business was one of the nation’s largest for the
past 20 years supplying big box retailers as well as thousands of smaller
industry stores. Their home accents business was new in the past 10 years,
but it quickly grew and earned clients like Wal-mart, Bed Bath & Beyond,
Menard’s, Lowe’s, and many others.
Trademarks & Patent info included
The Intellectual Property includes, without limitation, the following:
(i) trademarks; (ii) a copyright; (iii) software licenses; (iv) product licenses;
(v) customer lists; and (vi) good will. The trademarks and the copyright are
in the name of The Blonder Company, but the Trustee believes that all of the
Intellectual Property listed in this Exhibit was purchased by the Debtor
pursuant to an Asset Purchase Agreement dated April 6, 2011 by and among
the Debtor, as purchaser and The Blonder Company (“Blonder”), WCO
Decorating, Inc. (“WCO”), the TBC Sample Book Corporation (“TBC”
and, together with Blonder, WCO and TBC, the “Blonder Group”) and Jeff
Hastings, in his capacity as the court appointed receiver for the Blonder
Group (“Receiver”) in the case captioned Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania v.
The Blonder Company, et al., Case No. CV-11-752715 in the Cuyahoga
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County Court of Common Pleas (the “Action”). It is therefore the Trustee’s
belief that the trademarks and the copyright are included under the definition
of Intellectual Property which can be sold as part of the Sale Property.
Although the trademarks and the copyright are subject to a security
interest held by Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania (“Citizens”), 512 William
Penn Place, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 and recorded 8/9/2010 at Reel/Frame
4271/0755 in the U.S. Patent and Trademarks Office (the “PTO”)
assignments database at http://assignments.uspto.gov/assignments/, the
Trustee has confirmed that this security interest was previously released by
Citizens, and that Citizens no longer has a security interest in the Intellectual
Property. Citizens will be taking the necessary steps to have an appropriate
release filed with the PTO.
The Trustee is continuing to obtain information with respect to the
Intellectual Property and this information is therefore subject to change.
U.S. Trademark Registrations owned by The Blonder Company (as of
December 30, 2011)
Trademark
Registration
No.
2,977,005
Registration
Date
7/26/2005
Blonder Home
Accents (and design)
3,069,645
3/21/2006
NEXTWALL
3,880,687
11/23/2010
Blonder Home
Accents (and design)
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Trademark Description
Class 16 - Wallpaper sample books,
appliques in the form of decals, but
not featuring blond-colored
products.
Class 21 - Bath accessories, namely,
soap holders and toothbrush holders,
but not featuring blond-colored
products.
Class 27 - Wallpaper, but not
featuring blond-colored products.
Class 16 - Wallpaper sample books,
appliques in the form of decals, but
not featuring blond-colored
products.
Class 27 - Wallpaper, but not
featuring blond-colored products.
Class 27 - Wallcoverings.
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U.S. Copyright Registration owned by The Blonder Company (as of December 30,
2011)
Type of Work: Text
Registration Number / Date: TX0007238827 / 2010-04-19
Application Title: NextWall Web Site (March 2010)
Title: NextWall Web Site (March 2010)
Description: Electronic file (eService)
Copyright Claimant: The Blonder Company. Address: 3950 Prospect Avenue,
Cleveland, OH, 44115, United States.
Date of Creation: 2010
Date of Publication: 2010-03-14
Nation of First Publication: United States
Authorship on Application: The Blonder Company, employer for hire; Domicile: United
States; Citizenship: United States. Authorship: text,
compilation, editing.
331/1941237v1_21365-0002
Physical Assets Included
- 100+ boxes of Standards of Home Accents line for sourcing
production.
- Files of Wallcovering artwork
- Files of licensing agreements
- Servers and Computers of Blonder
- Hard Drive Backup of Server – (sample of data is listed below)
Digital Files Included
- Accounting File, 889 Folders, 14,354 Files, 11.2 GB of information
(some is password protected, which we may or may not be able to
open)
- Product Information Master File, 1,651 Folders, 4,218 Files, 1.25 GB
of information
- Sales & Inventory Reports File, 210 Folders, 12,531 Files, 4.3 GB of
information
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Sample of Photo Catalogues
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Bid Qualification Requirements
Parties interested in bidding on the Blonder IP will be required to send
Liquid Asset Partners a confidential letter from their financial institution
showing proof of financial wherewithal to close a transaction up to the
highest amount they would bid. If a party reaches their maximum bid
approval amount, they will not be allowed to continue bidding. So any
interested parties should plan to be pre-approved above their maximum
amount.
Bid Process
The Auction is open to a Stalking Horse bid up to 48 hours before the
auction which would be used as a basis for the bidding. Any group chosen as
the Stalking Horse will be allowed a 5% breakup fee and any overbids
would need to be 10% over the Stalking Horse. The Auction will be a
telephone conference where all bidder’s names and companies will be
announced at the start. Bidding will go in a round robin format with the
order picked randomly by Liquid Asset Partners. Each group will be allowed
one pass. Bidding will be at a minimum 5% increment from the starting bid.
For More Info
Our sales team: 616.719.5917
Mike Sagorski – Sales Manager [email protected]
William Bell – Sales & Marketing Director [email protected]
Randy Williams – Sales Associate [email protected]
JT Thatcher – Sales Associate [email protected]
Info on Pages 10-17 shows a sample of “Screen Shots” of the files on the
Server.
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Screen Shot of Accounting Files for reference
You are able to drag these larger to read better.
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