A Seattle's Best Coffee cafe in a Borders store

Things continue to go badly in Borders bankruptcy case. Late last week the in-store coffee-shop franchisee in 225 just-closed Borders stores, Seattle’s Best Coffee, a division of Starbucks (right, the coffee shops in Barnes & Noble), filed court papers asking the bankruptcy judge “to protect its brand and trademarks” in the wake of the closures and Borders’ plans to sever connections with Seattle’s Best.

According to a Bloomberg News wire story, in the filing

… Seattle’s Best acknowledged that Borders, the bankrupt bookstore chain, has the right under insolvency rules to void its lease agreement. It took issue, however, with language in Borders’ court papers that would allow it to keep operating Seattle’s Best cafes for 45 days after the termination.

Noting that Borders may replace Seattle’s Best with a new vendor, the coffee maker said it “does not want the brand it has worked hard to develop used to promote a different and likely inferior product” in the future.

At its peak, Seattle’s Best cafes appeared in over 400 Borders stores.

Meanwhile, the report also notes that in a separate development, “the company’s creditors’ committee objected to Borders’ request for extra time to file a repayment plan, calling for expeditiousness in light of the company’s $180 million in operating losses since filing for bankruptcy.”

The court is expected to rule on both matters on Thursday.