Hyperion bankrupt?

[Yasu]

Is it confirmed that it's OUR Hyperion?

[Edit] That would explain why they released 4.1 FE. Either to get a quick buck before it ends or to give the community the last fruits of their labour before the end.

Will Trevor buy them now?

[Yasu]

Unfortunately I have read that the developer of amithlon deleted amithlon and all of his backups because he was so angry.

Why is that?

Also, I read at *ahem* Moobunny that the rights to AmigaOS 4 is not transferable according to their deal with Amiga Inc. (unless McEwan agrees) which would mean that HE could not transfer the OS to Trevor for example before the bankrupsy. The only chance now is to buy the whole company.

Could this be right?

[Yasu]

Well, you can always count on the PR department on Hyperion then. When half the people are deeply worried and the other half is dansing on their grave they go to _one_ forum and write "sh*t happened. Don't bother us". If it was me I would go into overdrive, write some statement on my HP:s and send an open letter to the community.

I mean, being thought of as gone bust is ... really really bad, right? This way of handling it actually doesn't make me all convinsed that they havn't gone insolvent. Unless they are late starters and the overdrive will be underway this afternoon or something.

OK, we need some fact checking now. Bankrupsy handlings are public documentations in Sweden. Is it the same in Belgium? Can someone check what is really going on?

[Yasu]

I've also checked who the curator is, and it looks like this guy:

http://www.eurojuris.be/en/node/37684

I've e-mailed him and asked him if he is the curator and if so, what is going on? Hopefully he will answer me. If he does, I will post his reply here (as I don't have a working AmigaWorld account).

[Yasu]

@Thomas_Richter

Well, I do know the difference but it's still a lot more serious than "just a misunderstanding" that HE claims. But sure, insolvent would mean that Trevor can invest money into the business, keeping it floating. Other than that it does look bleak. From what I know HE only have two paid employees. So if they can not pay their bills then they really don't have much chance of finding ways to do so.

Laws can be very different from country to country. But I suspect that they are quite alike in the EU.

[Yasu]

I just got this reply from the curator:

"The company announced to start an opposition procedure according to the Belgian Bankruptcy Act. In that case the Court can take a decision to annul the first Court decision which means it is like no insolvency proceeding has even been pronounced."

[Yasu]

They are not dead yet.

But even if they survive it raises a difficult question: who went to court to declare the insolvency and why?

[Yasu]

Or one of them is listed as a creditor.

Now THAT would be interesting!

[Yasu]

Question: _IF_ Hyperion stays bankrupt, what will happen to AOS 4? AFAIK there are some clauses with Amiga Inc. that makes the whole thing complicated.

Can someone shed some light into this topic?

[Yasu]

This thread will surely turn out to be nothing but speculation and over reaction to an oversight, plus many assumptions.

Never the less, I have moved my portion of any further car talk to PM prior to your above request.

In what universe is being declared bankrupt by a court an oversight? In Hermans?

[Yasu]

Do you know what events led up to the judgement?  Do you know that Hyperion was aware of the proceedings, so they could defend their position?  In many places, when one party or the other does not show up in court, a judgement against them is automatic.

I don't have the facts, but have read some unconfirmed reports that court notices may have been delayed from reaching the people who could have stopped this from happening.  I reluctantly share this info, as I don't like to spread unconfirmed information (rumors), until I know the facts.  I encourage everyone to calm down until we know more FACTS!

I'm just having a difficult time accepting the idea that Ben Hermans was one day going to work, whistling some peppy song because everything is going his way. He goes to the office, say hello to his coworkers and recieve the good news that AOS 4FE is selling well. And then he sees a letter at his desk, he opens it and see that the court of Belgium has for no reason at all decleared Hyperion bankrupt.
"There must be some mistake. Why haven't I heard of this matter before? We are paying our bills and our taxes and even making some money". He calls the court and the judge in question tells him:
"Oh, some guy sent us a letter the other day claiming he hasn't been paid and that you have no money to pay him. Because we are the court of Belgium, runned by third rate burocratic saps we of course believed him on the spot and without making any kind of investigation of the state of the company we declared it bankrupt. Because that's what we do. Are you now telling me he was lying? But ... he seemed so honest! I ... Oops, I did it again. File a complaint and maybe, just maybe, we will be nice enough to do our job and fix this. Unless we are out for lunch. Good bye."
Ben Hermans hang up the phone, he stands quiet for some very long seconds shaking, and then shouts "DAMN THIS THIRD WORLD COUNTRY AND IT'S LOUSY JURIDICAL SYSTEM!! DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!!"

Sure, maybe they will rebound. It's perfectly possible. And I would welcome that for the sake of the community and all the people who wants to use and keep using their favourite OS. But let's face it, unless Belgium is like what I described above then this happened because the court did it's job and came to the conclusion after an investigation that yes, Hyperion is in their conclusion bankrupt.

[Edit] I also have a hard time believe that such a small company forgot to open or lost the hypothetical mail with the court hearing. My dad had a small company and he got some 30 mails a day. He opened all and read most of them. Especially if it seemed important.

[Yasu]

Taken from Amigans:

Due to an administrative cock-up Hyperion weren't informormed about it until after the hearing. Now they have to appeal against the descision which will not be a problem, it will just take time. Development and Betatesting is going on as usual. No popcorn is required, don't panic and carry on as usual.

[Yasu]

A statement from Ben Hermanns (via AmigaWorld):

In Belgium anybody can file a bankruptcy claim even for 150 EUR or so. It
is a common pressure tactic used by parties who do not wish go to the usual
court process because most companies will pay rather than go through the
motions of fighting off a bankruptcy claim.

It is an abuse of procedure but in our case, matters came this far because
the company which handles our administrative seat did not hand over the
writ of summons in time for us to know about the claim.

We could easily have fended it off but now we need to overturn the judgment.

This was ofcourse not the intention of the claimant (quite the contrary)
but there you have it.

[Yasu]

Well, it seems my attempt of satire might be closer to the truth than intended

[Yasu]

Sooo, people my REALLY love Hyperion then?