SuperStock SuperFail

If you want to enjoy some light winter reading, go page through the SuperStock bankruptcy documents. Rather not? Okay, read our story summarizing the information.

Basically: As a photographer, your contract with SuperStock could be only as good as the bankruptcy court's ability to find somebody to take it over. If you want to get paid the royalties you're owed, cross your fingers that Masterfile or some other company is willing to assume your contract. Otherwise, there's simply not enough money left to go around. For lack of a proper legal term, you're screwed.

Unlike the recent collapse of Digital Railroad, there were a lot of warning signs here. SuperStock's parent company, A21, has been losing money forever. It laid people off last year and had a lot of turnover among its leadership. These facts appeared in public documents, and we've been reporting them for a while.

What other companies are teetering on the brink that we don't know as much about? If someone you do business with has stopped paying you promtply, isn't responding to calls or e-mails, or otherwise appears to be on the verge of collapse, let us know: E-mail dlang@pdnonline.com. As always, we'll keep your name confidential if you ask us to.