El reconocido fabricante de mtoso eléctricas, la americana Vetrix, llega a su fase final a ser subastada toda su maquinaria, las motos que se han quedado en "stock" en su fábrica, y piezas de recambio por valor de 1,6 millones de dólares. Con ello se liquidará definitivamente lo que fue uno de los mayores fabricantes de motos eléctricas de los últimos años.
Recordamos que las motos eléctricas Vetrix fueron vendidas en muchos países, inlcuido en España, donde cubrieron una buena parte de la demanda de estos vehículos, hasta su cierre definitiva, por suspención de pagos, en enero de este año. Desde entonces Vetrix ha intentado reflotarse con un proyecto nuevo y ha buscado nuevos inversores, pero finalmente tuvo que "tirar la toalla".
Ahora la pregunta final será quien se quedará con todas las piezas de recambio, para poder garantizar un servicio a los miles de motos Vetrix que están circulando en diferenetes países, y como se resolverán el tema de la propiedad intelectual del concepto de las motos eléctricas de la marca, tema que los americanos aún no lo tienen del todo claro, como podemos entrever en la información que nos llega desde los Estados Unidos.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court approved the planned June 18, 2014, auction of electric motorcycle maker Vectrix, LLC. Paul E. Saperstein & Co. (http://www.pesco.com) will conduct the auction at the company's former headquarters in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Subject to further court approval, the auction will include the company's intellectual property rights and other information assets.
Introduced in 2006, the Vectrix was the first commercially available high performance electric scooter. Following financial problems, the Gold Peak battery group purchased the company in 2009. Under new control, Vectrix expanded its product lines, launching the VX-2 and the three wheeled VX-3. However, sales failed to generate sufficient revenue and Vectrix LLC stopped operations in January 2014.
On March 31, 2014, Vectrix, LLC filed a chapter 7 bankruptcy petition in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts, case no. 14-11381-WCH, and Warren E. Agin was appointed as its bankruptcy trustee to liquidate the company's assets. Mr. Agin hired Paul E. Saperstein & Co. to auction the company assets, and on April 25, 2014, he announced in court pleadings that the sale was planned for June 18, 2014, at Vectrix's former headquarters at 55 Samuel Barnet Blvd, New Bedford, Massachusetts.
According to the auctioneer, the assets being sold will include 75 complete Vectrix all electric VX2 motorcycles, about 100 new Lithium Ion batteries suitable for use in Vectrix cycles, and more than 1.6 million dollars' worth of replacement parts. The sale will also include the company's intellectual property and other information assets. A related company in Hong Kong, Vectrix International Limited, holds the businesses' registered patents and trademarks, but court records show that late last month the Vectrix, LLC trustee filed a lawsuit claiming that these intellectual property assets should be available for creditors (D. Mass. AP no. 14-1104). According to Mr. Agin "the lawsuit is in its early stages - the June 18 sale will not include any intellectual property currently owned by Vectrix International. I am, however, planning to sell the trade secrets and copyrights Vectrix, LLC developed, as well as the right to sue third parties for infringing those rights."
In addition, the auction will include electronics, office equipment, assembly plant machinery and an extensive selection of machine shop and manufacturing equipment. Online bidding will be provided through BidSpotter. Paul A. Saperstein & Co.'s complete auction guide is available online at http://bit.ly/vectrix.
