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A bankrupt debtor's ability to escape unprofitable contracts, enshrined in Section 365 of the American Bankruptcy Code, is considered central to a successful reorganisation within Chapter 11. The ambit of this power and the consequence of its application has been the subject of unceasing legal and business controversy. Intellectual property licenses assumed the forefront of this controversy in 1985 when the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that Section 365 includes a unilateral power to rescind an Intellectual Property License. Congress reacted to the Court's decision by amending Section 365 and legislating specific protections for Intellectual Property Licensees. This paper explores the American jurisprudence on the treatment of intellectual property licenses during bankruptcy and examines them within the insolvency regimes of the United Kingdom and India. The study reveals an important legal deficiency: neither jurisdiction incorporates any explicit protections for Intellectual Property Licenses during bankruptcy. Further, we find no substantive provisions that deal with the treatment of ongoing contracts during Corporate Insolvency Resolution Proceedings in India and Administration in the UK. For India, this raises an important issue relating to the desirability of a resolution professional's ability to interfere with pre-petition IP licensing agreements. The authors underline the importance of such interference and suggest amendments to the Indian insolvency regime to deal with intellectual property licenses during bankruptcy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public procurement accounts for around 12% of global GDP and 63% of expenditures are managed by subnational governments across OECD countries. In Italy, municipalities can impose penalties on contractors for breaches of contract, for example delays in delivery, often leading to contractors suing the municipality in local courts, which can in turn further delay delivery. As such the efficiency of the local judiciary can have a strong bearing on the final delivery of public works. This study assesses the causal effect of those efficiencies on the ultimate delay in the execution of local public contracts. The results show that inefficient courts lead to further delays in the execution of public works that are already long overdue. However, inefficient courts also appear to deter companies to pursue litigation in cases where delays were much lower. Overall, the impact on long-overdue contracts prevails and the aggregate effect is negative: the total delay in the execution of local public contracts in the 25% least efficient courts is more than twice as large as in the 25% most efficient courts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the U.S. Navy has been procuring Virginia (SSN-774) class nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) since fiscal 1998. It mentions Virginia-class boats procured in FY2019-FY2023 were procured under a multiyear procurement (MYP) contract. It also mentions Virginia-class boats procured in FY2019 and subsequent years are to be built with the Virginia Payload Module (VPM) and launching additional Tomahawk missiles or other payloads.

The article focuses on the U.S. Navy began procuring Virginia (SSN-774) class nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) since FY1998, and a total of 36 have been procured through FY2022. It mentions class boats scheduled for procurement in FY2019-FY2023 are being procured under a multiyear procurement (MYP) contract. It also mentions section equipped with four large-diameter, vertical launch tubes for storing and launching additional Tomahawk missiles or other payloads.

The article reports that Coast Guard Polar Security Cutter (PSC) program is a program to acquire three new PSCs to be followed years from now by the acquisition of up to three new Arctic Security Cutters (ASCs). It mentions Coast Guard's proposed FY2023 budget requests in continued procurement funding for the PSC program. It also mentions PSC program's Detail Design and Construction (DD&C) contract, long leadtime materials (LLTM) for the third PSC.