RE: Re: OT: CD Prices at CD WOW

["Andrew Burt" <andrew@xxxxxxx>]

Is it just "retail" sales that's a problem? Surely CD-WOW could
get around
the problem by having customers join a club. Costco gets around the Levi
problem this way doesn't it?

Andrew


-----Original Message-----
From: David Buckley [mailto:db@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 25 January 2004 11:33
To: ukha_d@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [ukha_d] Re: OT: CD Prices at CD WOW


--- In ukha_d@yahoogroups.com, Stuart Grimshaw <stuart@s...> wrote:
> On Sun, 2004-01-25 at 00:15, Dave McLaughlin wrote:
>... to the BPI. They are the ones who made the ruling for
> the record industry according to the BBC website.

The BPI don't "make rulings"

The BPI is effectively the trade association representing the music
industry (the record companies, like EMI and Sony Music) in the UK.
Readers of The Register will recognise them as the Pigopolists.

This row isn't anything to do with Copyright, but to do with
brands.  Its the same row that Tesco have been having on and off
with Levi Jeans for yonks.

Essentially, the way the law works is that a Brand Owner (eg Levi or
EMI or Clipsal) within Europe have the right to determine how and
where their product is sourced for retail sale.  Thus EMI (and
Paralaphone and Sony Music, or the BPI as their authorised
collective representative) can determine where their branded product
(CDs) is sourced from.

As I understand it, CDNOW were getting stock outside europe and
flogging it inside europe, and that falls foul of the rules, and if
the brand owner can be bothered, they can go to court to have it
stopped.  The BPI (representing the plurality of the music
companies) called CDNOWs bluf.  It worked.  CDNOW knew they would
lose if it went to court, and although we would all be mightily
impressed by their titanium balls, what with them taking on the
collective massed ranks of the rippers-off and all, ultimately
theres no point fighting battles you cant win.

This all stems back to a thing called the "Silohette Judgement",
after the sunglasses outfit who did it first.

Its been all the way through the European courts, and is settled
law.  In this case the law is on the side of the brand owner, rather
than on the side of the consumer.

You can complain to the Pigopolists at the BPI if you wish, but I
dont think you'll get anywhere on it.  Through the Music Industries
(and if ever there was a misnomer, thats it) clever and effective
(some would say "ruthless", when meaning to say "evil")
manipulation
of political innocents, they have made their industry have a "right
to exist" in a way Arthur Scargill would have given both arms and a
leg for to save the British coal industry and its 100K+ jobs.

David.




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