Mission Product Holdings, Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC, 139 S. Ct. 1652

Tempnology licensed its "Coolcore" trademarks and granted Mission Product an exclusive U.S. distribution right and a non‑exclusive worldwide trademark license; the contract ran until July 2016.
Tempnology filed Chapter 11 in September 2015 and sought to "reject" the executory license under 11 U.S.C. § 365(a).
Bankruptcy Court approved rejection and then (on Tempnology's motion) declared Mission's trademark rights extinguished; the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel reversed.
The First Circuit reinstated the Bankruptcy Court, holding rejection terminated trademark rights (citing trademark quality‑control concerns and statutory gaps such as § 365(n) not covering trademarks).
The Supreme Court granted certiorari and held that rejection "constitutes a breach" under § 365(g) and that breach does not rescind rights the contract already conveyed; thus Mission's trademark license survived rejection.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Mission)	Defendant's Argument (Tempnology)	Held
Whether § 365 rejection terminates a licensee's trademark rights	Rejection is a breach only; nonbankruptcy breach law preserves licensee rights, so Mission keeps mark rights	Rejection should operate like rescission for most contracts not covered by express exceptions (e.g., § 365(n)); trademark licenses should be treated as terminable because licensors must retain quality control	Rejection is a breach and does not revoke rights already granted by the contract; trademark license survived rejection
Mootness / justiciability of Mission's damages claim	Mission retained a viable money‑damages claim for lost profits during the post‑rejection period, keeping the case live	Tempnology argued the case was moot because the license expired and estate distributions left no recoverable assets; also argued petitioning the court cannot give rise to damages	Case not moot: a plausible damages claim preserves an Article III controversy and relief (including potential unwinding of distributions) remains possible

NLRB v. Bildisco & Bildisco, 465 U.S. 513 (recognizing business‑judgment deference to rejection/assumption decisions in bankruptcy)
Field v. Mans, 516 U.S. 59 (statutory terms adopt ordinary contract meanings absent indication to the contrary)
Sunbeam Prods., Inc. v. Chicago Am. Mfg., LLC, 686 F.3d 372 (7th Cir.) (held rejection does not terminate trademark/licensee rights)
Lubrizol Enters. v. Richmond Metal Finishers, 756 F.2d 1043 (4th Cir.) (held rejection could revoke a patent license; Congress later legislated in response)
Chafin v. Chafin, 568 U.S. 165 (mootness standard; damages claims can preserve justiciability)
Board of Trade of Chicago v. Johnson, 264 U.S. 1 (bankruptcy estate includes debtor's prebankruptcy property interests)