Tasco - Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy

On May 29, 2002, Tasco Worldwide initiated liquidation of all its assets. after defaulting on nearly $30 million in loans. The company had been searching for a buyer for several months, but after much interest by Meade Corporation, the Federal Trade Commission, on this day, sanctioned a temporary restraining order in federal district court to preempt any attempt by Meade Instruments Corporation, the leading manufacturer of performance telescopes in the United States, to purchase all, or certain assets, of Tasco Holdings, Inc. including Celestron, a child-company and number two performance telescope provider in the U.S. The FTC argued that an acquisition by Meade of Celestron would negatively impact the performance telescope market by eliminating significant competition between the two companies and by creating a monopoly in the market for Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes, which were currently only being sold in the U.S. by Celestron and Meade.

In response to the FTC’s denial, Meade filed several lawsuits against both Tasco and Celestron concerning a patent for a “Fully Automated Telescope System With Distributed Intelligence,” also known as “GoTo” technology, charging the two companies with patent infringement and unfair competition. The complaints were filed in the United States District Court, Central District of California, Southern Division, but were all subsequently denied.

Later in 2002, Tasco and Celestron, now under the ownership of Bushnell Performance Optics, fired back with lawsuits also in the District Court of California, alleging Meade Corporation products infringed on a United States patent entitled "Tripod Structure for Telescopes." Both companies sought injunctive relief and compensatory damages in an unspecified amount, and attorneys' fees and costs. In December 2002, the District Court denied both Celestron's and Tasco’s motion .