Pro Audio Supplier Lands HDR-A Trademark, but Lockdowns Sent Sales Plunging 20-30%

COVID-19 lockdowns, first in China, then California, forced professional audio supplier Millennia Music & Media Systems to delay introducing its high-dynamic range audio technology by about six months to early January, emailed founder John La Grou Sunday. His application for the HDR-A trademark (see 1909150001) sailed through the Patent and Trademark Office in just over seven months, landing a registration certificate April 7. La Grou won’t discuss HDR-A until its formal introduction because he regards it as “stealth technology,” he said. Millennia, based in Diamond Springs, California, has been in lockdown since mid-March, scheduled to reopen Monday, said La Grou. His county’s shelter-in-place order expired Friday for “stage 2" nonessential manufacturing businesses like Millennia, “but getting everyone back to work won't happen until the 18th,” he said. “Sales are currently down around 20-30%.” His company got a Paycheck Protection Program loan under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, “but will only use about 1/2 of it, the other half will be returned to Treasury,” he said. “It's a timing issue.” A PPP loan converts to a grant after eight weeks if the funds are used toward payroll to bring furloughed employees back to work. The “8-wk shelf life is from date of receipt, NOT the date people return to work,” said La Grou. A “bureaucratic oversight” by the Small Business Administration, he said. “Long term nobody knows” when sales will recover, he said. “We're in the entertainment business (shows, studios, live events, etc.), which are all hit hard by CV19, so we may be in for a long slow period.”