Business & Securities Law·Technology·Arbitration
Representative Matters
Mr. Bendes structures and negotiates transactions, gives the opinions that close them, and — when deals break down — has briefed and argued the resulting appeals. The following are representative; most engagements are confidential, and the examples below are illustrative of the kinds of matters he handles.
Corporate & M&A
Negotiating and documenting mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and the organization and sale of closely held and emerging companies — including the governance, executive-compensation, and employment arrangements that accompany them.
Securities & Financings
Representing companies and investors in debt and equity financings, private placements, and venture-capital and private-equity transactions, together with the Blue Sky, secured-lending, and broker-dealer questions they raise.
Technology & Licensing
Structuring software, SaaS, data-analytics, AI, and internet-related transactions; licensing, outsourcing, and IT agreements; and domestic and cross-border sales of goods, distribution, and agency arrangements — on both sides of the table.
In-house Leadership
As General Counsel and Secretary of Emerson Radio Corp., an NYSE-listed consumer-electronics company, and as the senior administrative and legal officer of its software and personal-computer subsidiaries, he managed legal, compliance, and operational functions through the startup, growth, and exit phases of those ventures, and negotiated their vendor, customer, manufacturing, and distribution agreements.
Over his career Mr. Bendes has briefed and argued appeals in several of the United States Courts of Appeals — typically in the same commercial subject matter he transacts: trademark licensing, distribution, securities, and international trade.
Seventh & Third Circuits · Argued
Represented Orion in multi-forum litigation with Emerson Radio arising from an exclusive license to sell Emerson-branded video products, and argued the appeals before two federal courts of appeals. The matters turned on sophisticated licensing questions — the interplay of minimum-royalty obligations with implied "best-efforts" and good-faith duties, and the interpretation of an express covenant to "exploit" a brand.
Orion Sales, Inc. v. Emerson Radio Corp., 148 F.3d 840 (7th Cir. 1998); Emerson Radio Corp. v. Orion Sales, Inc., 253 F.3d 159 (3d Cir. 2001).
Second Circuit · Counsel
Counsel for foreign banks and jute mills in a dispute over the proceeds of an international goods sale, raising the act-of-state doctrine and the recognition of foreign confiscatory decrees — the litigation mirror of the international-trade transactions he handles.
United Bank Ltd. v. Cosmic International, Inc., 542 F.2d 868 (2d Cir. 1976).
Reported decisions are cited for identification only. Litigation outcomes depend on the specific facts and law of each matter; prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.