Opinion ID: 2752247
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Succession of Interests

Text: 5 Case: 13-13900 Date Filed: 11/17/2014 Page: 6 of 25 In September 2008, Axiom, LLC, borrowed money from Progress Bank, N.A., and, in exchange, granted Progress Bank a security interest in all of Axiom, LLC’s assets. Progress Bank eventually sued Axiom, LLC, in Florida state court, seeking to foreclose on the assets after Axiom, LLC, defaulted on the loan. Progress Bank obtained a judgment in its favor, but that judgment was reversed on jurisdictional grounds. Axiom, LLC, then filed a petition for the “Assignment for Benefit of Creditors to Michael Luetgert and Associates,” seeking assignment of all of Axiom, LLC’s assets to Luetgert. Leutgert was then authorized to sell Axiom, LLC’s assets to Progress Bank. On July 2, 2010, Luetgert executed a bill of sale to transfer all assets in his possession—that is, all of the assets formerly belonging to Axiom, LLC—to Progress Bank. Axiom, Inc., was not involved in connection with any of these proceedings. Two weeks later, Progress Bank sold all of the assets it acquired from Luetgert to HTRD Group Hong Kong Limited (“HTRD”), a foreign corporation authorized to do business in Florida, via an “as is” and “where is” “Quit Claim Bill of Sale and Assignment.” HTRD, a co-defendant with EMC and Musallam below, admits that it was aware of the Atlanta Case and the summaryjudgment order regarding trademark ownership at the time it executed the quitclaim bill of sale. HTRD nevertheless filed paperwork with the USPTO to transfer the trademarks to its name. 6 Case: 13-13900 Date Filed: 11/17/2014 Page: 7 of 25 Although the full scope of the commercial relationship between HTRD and the two Appellants, EMC and Musallam, is not entirely clear, it is undisputed that HTRD and EMC jointly filed paperwork with the Food and Drug Administration allowing EMC to become a “contract manufacturer” for the DRX devices. EMC is an authorized distributor of the DRX devices for HTRD. Musallam also testified that he gets his rights to sell the DRX machines from HTRD. In addition, Musallam is the United States-based agent for HTRD, the owner of EMC, and a former employee of Axiom, Inc.