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Irvine telescope maker Meade Instruments has filed for bankruptcy protection just days after its Chinese owner lost an antitrust case alleging a conspiracy to squeeze a competitor out of business.
Meade, bought by Ningbo Sunny Electronic Co. Ltd. in 2013, filed Wednesday, Dec. 4, in U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s Central District, claiming debts of $10 million to $50 million. A Meade affiliated company, Sunny Optics, filed for bankruptcy protection, too.
The filing includes an unspecified and disputed debt to Orion Telescopes & Binoculars, a Watsonville-based telescope marketer well-known in the sky-watching industry.
According to Law360, a California federal jury on Nov. 26 awarded Orion $16.8 million after it found that Ningbo Sunny, through Meade, was fixing telescope prices for American consumers with a manufacturing monopoly created after it bought Meade. Orion’s attorney, Noah Hagey, told Law360 damages could be tripled.
“Orion has bravely led the charge against supplier collusion, and its example should serve as a path forward for other brands beset by this sort of unlawful conduct,” Hagey was quoted.
Meade, a big name in the home telescope market, fell on hard times a decade ago as foreign-made products scooped up market share from domestic makers. Whatever business was left then shrank during the Great Recession.
Orion had tried to acquire the then financially ailing Meade but was outbid first by another Asian manufacturer and finally by Ningbo Sunny. Orion alleges that after the Meade merger with its Chinese buyer, Orion’s ability to buy products from the combined entities ended.
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