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Writ of execution on a company itself and/or intellutual property/investments,etc..

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zddoodah

Active Member
I want to take ownership of the company sort of how a bank may take ownership of a car, boat,house, plane,etc.... in which money has been loan and payments have been missed. Is that in the realm of possibilities?
No.

is the intellectual property and other intangibles fair game to get in a post judgement writ of execution?
You'll have to confer with a FL attorney who handles enforcement of judgment. However, at a minimum, it depends on whether you're talking about copyrights, patents or something else. Both copyrights and patents are creations of federal law, so there is interplay between federal and state law when you try to levy/garnish those things.
 
You could request that the court appoint a receiver to acquire and sell the intellectual property, this if the debtor will not voluntarily transfer his rights in his IP to satisfy the debt.
The Debtor will not even show up to court. I don't want to just sell the Intellectual property, I want to be the owner of it. Is there a way to ask for this with the courts?
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
The Debtor will not even show up to court. I don't want to just sell the Intellectual property, I want to be the owner of it. Is there a way to ask for this with the courts?
You asked this earlier and you already got an answer. Please discuss this with a local attorney that specializes in collection in the debtor's state.
 
You cannot use the judgment to take ownership of the company like you can to take company assets like a car or bank account because the company is owned by other people or entities. So unless you have a judgment against those persons or entities you cannot take what they own to satisfy your judgment. For example, suppose you have a judgment against XYZ corporation. XYZ's sole shareholder is John Smith. John Smith is thus the owner of XYZ Corp. You don't have a judgment against John Smith. So you can't take the stock John Smith has in XYZ Corp because you need a judgment against John Smith to reach his assets, which includes his stock in XYZ Corp.

Now, if the company were to go into Chapter 11 bankruptcy or receivership it may be possible for the creditors to gain control of the corporation or LLC, but those proceedings can be expensive and time consuming and often not worthwhile to do when it's just a fairly small company involved. So for the most part you take the assets of the company that you can fairly easily reach without a lot of expense and then you may just have to give up on the rest. It sucks when that happens, and it happens a lot with small businesses, but that's the practical reality of it.
So the company itself is not considered to be an asset of the company? So I would need a judgement against the company owner for that to happen is what you are saying?

You also said that may change during a Chapter 11 bankruptcy or receivership?
What about if the company filed for to be dissolved? Does that mean the owner has forfeited the rights of the company?
Would a judgement against a now dissolved company allow to collect the company as part of the judgement the same way a Chapter 11 or receivership would?
 
Asked before and answered. You cannot levy or use a writ of execution for intellectual property.
I have received 2 different conflicting answers. I received your answer that you don't think it can be considered and I also received from the user taxing matters

"Personal property is sometimes broken down into two subcategories — tangible personal property and intangible personal property. The former are the things you can touch, hold, and move around like cars, furniture, TV sets, computers and cell phones, etc. The latter are things of value that you cannot directly touch, like intellectual property, money in a bank account (as opposed to actual cash), etc. For most purposes there is not much that hangs on whether an item is tangible or intangible personal property."


So the question is still undecided.
 

quincy

Senior Member
The Debtor will not even show up to court. I don't want to just sell the Intellectual property, I want to be the owner of it. Is there a way to ask for this with the courts?
How much are you owed?

Did you read the cases l linked to?

Copyrights and patent rights are granted by the US government and can only be transferred through an assignment of these rights. If the holder of these rights will not voluntarily assign the rights to you to satisfy the debt, a receiver (trustee) can be appointed to acquire and sell the IP and/or execute an assignment.

You should consult with an attorney in your area to go over the specifics.
 
No.



You'll have to confer with a FL attorney who handles enforcement of judgment. However, at a minimum, it depends on whether you're talking about copyrights, patents or something else. Both copyrights and patents are creations of federal law, so there is interplay between federal and state law when you try to levy/garnish those things.
I am trying to levy/garnish the copyrights and patents. Since you are saying they are a creation federal not state law.

So are you saying that somehow the state court has to work with the federal court somehow?
 

quincy

Senior Member
I am saying that a levy or writ is insufficient for patents and copyrights. Patent rights and copyrights are granted by the US government. These rights must be transferred by assignment and you, as creditor, cannot force a debtor to assign these rights to you to satisfy the debt.

What is the amount of debt owed?
 
Two cases for review:
Ager v Murray, 105 US 126 (1881):
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/105/126.html

Peterson v Sheriff of San Francisco, 115 Cal 211 (1896):
https://cite.case.law/cal/115/211/

These cases address what is necessary if a creditor wishes to satisfy a judgment through an assignment of rights in a debtor’s IP.
These are from the 18th century, about 140 years old. Is this information still relevant? There are supreme court rulings now that are different from the 1990's

So bottom line is that these say " Patent Rights not Subject to Levy "

In my situation, I am looking at digital I.P. technologies. This technology did not even exist when these cases were out.


Any type of Personal Property is subject to seizure under an execution, provided existing laws do not prescribe specific exemptions. Such property may include jewelry, money, and stocks. In most states, real property, including land, is also subject to execution. Intellectual Property, which includes Patents, copyrights, and Trademarks, is generally immune to execution. An execution on a judgment is typically issued by the clerk of the court in which the judgment was rendered. The clerk cannot issue an execution unless directed to do so by the judgment creditor or the judgment creditor's attorney. The time within which an execution must issue varies from one jurisdiction to another. The writ must be delivered to the sheriff or his or her deputy before it can properly be said that the writ has been issued.
https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/execution


It begs the question on what exactly does generally immune to execution means and what situation can you levy it.

In my situation, the company owes a very large amount via my Judgement and has dissolved. Perhaps that is a situation in which you can levy the Intellectual property?
 
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