Category Archives: Juno Baby Bankruptcy

Inside the Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Liquidation of Juno Baby, Inc.

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Back in January of 2013 I wrote an article about the unfortunate filing of Chapter 7 bankruptcy by Juno Baby, Inc. Juno Baby, Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code on December 21, 2012, Bankr. Case No. 12-33574. So what is going to happen to Juno Baby, Inc. and its intellectual property?

On February 28, 2013, the Chapter 7 trustee assigned to liquidate the remaining assets of Juno Baby, Inc. filed a motion pursuant to section 721 of the bankruptcy code to operate the business while it is liquidated. Section 721 provides that the court may authorize the trustee to operate the business of the debtor for a limited period, if such operation is in the best interest of the estate and consistent with the orderly liquidation of the estate. No opposition to the trustee’s motion was filed. The Chapter 7 trustee requested approval to run Juno Baby, Inc. given that products of Juno Baby, Inc. were still being sold by Amazon.com. The proceeds from those sales are part of the bankruptcy estate and must be preserved for the benefit of creditors of Juno Baby, Inc.

On October 1, 2013, the Chapter 7 trustee’s Bankruptcy Attorneys filed a motion to sell the intellectual property of Juno Baby, Inc. According to the motion the intellectual property of Juno Baby, Inc. was sold to Super Pig Entertainment, LLC for $22,500. The motion further provides that Super Pig Entertainment, LLC, is a company owned by one of the co-founders of Juno Baby, Inc. At the time of the bankruptcy of Juno Baby, Inc. the co-founders did not own the corporation anymore. The original co-founders sold Juno Baby, Inc. in 2009. On December 6, 2013, the Chapter 7 trustee filed an amended motion to sell the assets of Juno Baby, Inc. to clarify exactly what is being sold to Super Pig and what is not. The amended motion provides in part: “Pursuant to the Amended Sale Agreement, the Purchaser is purchasing all of the assets of the Debtor [Juno Baby, Inc.], including, without limitation, all copyrights, trademarks and other intellectual property, but not including all cash in the Debtor’s bank accounts, all proceeds of sales of the Debtor’s inventory deposited into the Debtor’s bank accounts on or before August 31, 2013, a State Board of Equalization refund in the amount of $13,926 received by the Trustee, and a potential Travelers Insurance Company refund scheduled by the Debtor in Schedule B in the Debtor’s bankruptcy case with an unknown valuation. The sale price for the assets is $22,500 which has been received by the Trustee.”

Juno Baby, Inc.’s bankruptcy schedules list $352,816 in assets and $6,913,903.00 in unsecured debts. Most of the assets are in the form of inventory totaling $331,806.00. So with the addition of the $22,500 in intellectual property funds received and the $13,926 for the BOE, the total available to creditors is approximately $368,232.00 (estimate only based upon court filings). Of course this is not counting the funds received from sales of product on Amazon.com, deducting the Chapter 7 trustee fee, Bankruptcy Attorney fees and accounting fees from the total. Juno Baby, Inc.’s creditors will be lucky if they receive a 5% distribution (5 cents for every dollar owed) from the bankruptcy estate of Juno Baby, Inc. That is also assuming that the inventory of $331,806.00 is even worth that.

Juno Baby, Inc. Unfortunately Filed For Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

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Every now and then while I wait for my client’s case to be called at a 341 meeting of a creditors an interesting business bankruptcy case is called first. Unfortunately today that case was for Juno Baby, Inc. Juno Baby, Inc.’s bankruptcy attorney filed their petiton for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code on December 21, 2012, Bankr. Case No. 12-33574.

I remember when this Juno Baby first started appearing because my brother had just welcomed his first child into the world in 2008. They were researching all kinds of learning tools for their first child. They liked the concept of songs and music teaching their child. What a great idea. Juno Baby was one that came up. Also with the happenstance of life I had a client who owned stock in Juno Baby, Inc. as well.

According to testimony by a former Juno Baby, Inc. CEO at Juno Baby, Inc.’s 341 meeting of the creditors today, Juno Baby, Inc. unfortunately did not catch on like you would think. According the California Secretary of State Juno Baby, Inc. was incorporated on April 16, 2009. The original founders basically sold all of the intellectual property of Juno Baby, LLC to Juno Baby, Inc. There were approximately three rounds of funding to start Juno Baby, Inc. The total amount of investment capital raised was around $4.2 million. According to their former CEO, Juno Baby, Inc. has not operated since 2011. An interesting twist that came up was the timing of the launch of the business and the emerging use of smart phones and launch of the IPAD. Originally Juno Baby, Inc. was focused on producing content in the form of DVDs. The shift was on to other platforms and apps with the Apple Store.

The bankruptcy schedules list $352,816 in assets and $6,913,903.00 in unsecured debts. Most of the assets are in the form of inventory totaling $331,806.00. What is clearly unknown in this case is: What is the value of the intellectual property such as the copyrighted content produced by Juno Baby, Inc.? Unfortunately for creditors there may not be any market out there to sell the intellectual property. There are number of creditors that are owed money such as Amazon.com. The single largest creditor is Peter Dal Pezzo for a loan totaling $6,681,742. Mr. Dal Pezzo’s claim represents 96.6% of the total claims against Juno Baby, Inc. If you are a bankruptcy lawyer representing a creditor it will be interesting whether the intellectual property created can be sold off to another company or individual for the benefit of creditors. Only time will tell. For now it marks the end for a once promising concept under the name Juno Baby. I do not think my brother ever ended up purchasing any of their products also. He probably owns some Baby Eistein stuff though.