I don't think Vivitar was ever considered a heavy weight of the 174 infringers known to date by DM, but they apparently play a strategic role from DM's perspective, and that was from RP (paraphrased).

Now whether this latest turn of events helps or hurts remains to be seen...but I do like that Vivitar is being spun off and not locked into the chapter 11 proceedings, as it now appears.

This should get more press than the "average" infringement suit and hopefully finds some speculators willing to take a calculated risk.