The Collapse Of Open Labs & Victor Wong’s Deck
On August 4, 2010, all assets of Open Labs, Inc. consisting primarily of the patents, trademarks, copyrights, and other Intellectual Property associated with the most of their products will be sold at a public foreclosure sale.
Here’s the announcement from The Statesman, a local Austin, Texas newspaper:
NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE OPEN LABS, INC. MUSIC PRODUCTION EQUIP. Notice is hereby given that substantially all of the assets of Open Labs, Inc. will be sold at a public foreclosure sale to be held at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 4, 2010, at the offices of Open Labs, Inc., located at 3701 Drosset Drive, Suite 150, Austin, Texas 78744. The assets of Open Labs, Inc. consist primarily of the patents, trademarks, copyrights, and other IP associated with the following Open Labs products: NeKo XXL 61-Key Music Production Stations, NeKo QX6 61-Key Music Production Stations, MiKo LXD 37-key Music Production Stations, MiKo QC6 37- key Music Production Stations, DBeat Mobile Music Production Stations, SoundSlate Rack Units, SoundSlate FW Rack Units, Open RiFF 2.0 Software, MimiK Software, and other Open Labs products. The assets to be sold also include furniture and equipment, office supplies, artwork, and musical collectibles. For more info, contact Greg Young, Okin Adams & Kilmer LLP, 7004 Bee Cave, Bldg 1,Ste 110, Austin, TX, 78746, 512-681-3732.
Although never like to see a manufacturer go out of business, we can’t say this is shocking news to anyone here at FutureMusic. And though we loved the company’s O-Live concept, there wasn’t much else in terms of marketing that was noteworthy. New products lacked serious innovation, and were just priced out of reach of most potential customers.
Insiders at Open Labs point to Victor Wong who made one poor decision after another and was eventually ousted by CEO Hank Coleman at the company’s eleventh hour, but it was too little, too late as the firm spiraled downward. Coleman attempted to circle the wagons and look for life-line investments to keep the concern afloat, but by that time the company was a Black Hole.
So what did Wong do as the ink was still drying on Open Labs’ foreclosure statement? Throw a huge bash at his townhouse that resulted in his makeshift deck collapsing at 4am. Twenty-six people were taken to several emergency rooms around the Austin, Texas area. Hospital officials said the incident resulted in the most trauma victims since Hurricane Rita struck in 2005. No life-threatening injuries or fatalities were reported, however at least five were in critical condition.
Considering the 26 impending lawsuits that he will most likely field in the coming months, the industry will probably not hear from Victor Wong again…
