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Ugobe, Maker of Pleo, Files For Bankruptcy
AshboryBassPlayer writes "Ugobe has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy — i.e., not reorganization but liquidation. We first discussed the company's Pleo robotic dinosaur toy in 2006. According to the company, 100,000 Pleos were sold in 2008. CEO Caleb Chung is optimistic about the auction value of intellectual property that Ugobe holds. Pleo featured 14 servo joints, a camera, and an SD Card for storage. The final street prices were commonly between $275 and $350, much higher than an earlier hoped-for price point under $200."
I agree. No one who has sold 100000 toys for about $300 each is, has, or will ever go broke. Either they are lying, self-delusional (their sales department sleezos have invented sales to get undeserved commissions), or they have stolen the money and defrauded their investors, or they are completely incompetent in business. Or they have been paying fat and happy robotics engineers $120/hour for years to design toys that can move pieces of colored silicone into cute funny faces. Probably a combination of all of the above.
The idea that there would be an auction for intellectual property is absurd. Intellectual property is an oxymoron that only makes sense as a legal concept when it is kept as secret and as expensive as possible. No one would pay money at an auction for trade secrets that lose their financial value when the company that developed them goes bankrupt and their so-called intellectual property becomes non-secret during the process. If the company is based on so-called intellectual property that must remain trade secret to retain its value and the company goes bankrupt, then the company has no value and neither does its trade secrets.
These morons should have simply made their toys a little smaller, used smaller motors and die-chip-sized processors and sold their toys for $30. Then they wouldn't be bankrupt. Bankruptcy is what always happens when marketing majors get drunk with dim-witted venture capitalists. Smart engineers are always looking to put teams of these bozos together and then be standing in the right place when it starts raining money.
Did I mention that it always wanted to talk about our Relationship?
Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.