http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...x10_bankruptcy
X10 Files for Bankruptcy Protection
SEATTLE - X10 Wireless Technology, known for ubiquitous Internet ads showing scantily clad women as seen from miniature wireless cameras, has filed for protection in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition.
The petition for reorganization was filed Tuesday, two weeks after a Superior Court jury in Santa Ana, Calif., ordered X10 to pay $4.3 million to three brothers who said the company stole proprietary technology and failed to pay $564,000 in commissions.
The jury has yet to decide on punitive damages for Tim, Chris and Russell Vanderhook, founders of AdvertisementBanners.com in Yorba Linda, Calif., listed in the bankruptcy filing as X10's largest unsecured creditor at $3.9 million.
X10's lawyer, Ada Ko, said the filing resulted from overall business problems rather than the Vanderhooks' case.
"The lawsuit was just another creditor," Ko said.
Calls to company headquarters for comment were not returned, The Seattle Times reported.
The filing listed assets of up to $10 million and fewer than 200 unsecured creditors who are owed less than $50 million. Besides the Vanderhooks, unsecured creditors include America Online, $55,413; Federal Express, $39,930; Foxnews.com, $40,866, and Google, $69,984.
X10 was one of the first companies to make extensive use of pop-under and pop-up technology with bright, splashy ads touting its Web site from such sites as The New York Times.
At its height two years ago, X10.com was the fourth-most visited Web site, ranking ahead of well-known businesses such as eBay and TerraLycos, according to Jupiter Research in Darien, Conn.
Jupiter also found, however, that nearly two-thirds of the people who saw the X10's ads closed the browser within 20 seconds.
Todd Hanson, an analyst with Gartner Inc. in San Jose, Calif., and owner of a wireless camera on his porch that enables him to see who's outside when the doorbell rings, said he had mixed feelings about the bankruptcy filing.
"I know they've had sharkish marketing tactics, but the products are clever," Hanson said. "The user in me says, `Bummer,' but the analyst in me says, `Maybe they had it coming.'"