Jump to content

Featured Replies

Posted
On the news now! :o They owe £41 million to record companys for breeching c.d. sale rules! :o
  • Replies 24
  • Views 2.2k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Author
Apparntly it's because they're selling C.D.'s to cheaply, tight asses <_<

They are very cheap for UK standards, you can get alot of chart albums for £6.99 and if you search the net or are a member of CDWow they always give you £1 off CD's so you can get the new releases for £5.99 sometimes

 

They're all imported from Hong Kong though I think

^ Yeh they all miss off bonus tracks and stuff.

 

I love CD-Wow though coz I get my US imports from there at really cheap prices.

And then they wonder why the physical side of the music industry is being killed off? :manson:

Era welcomes CD Wow decision

29 May 2007 - 11:18:41

Source: Music week

 

 

Era has welcomed the court decision to award £41m in damages to the BPI in its case against online retailer CD Wow.

 

The award was announced last week, after CD Wow was in March found to be in contempt of court and in breach of copyright in a case brought by the BPI, having signed undertakings in January 2004 that it would cease to sell CDs to UK and Irish customers that had first been placed on the market outside the European Union.

 

Era says that the news is good news for consumers, as unfair competition from CD Wow's Asian imports posed a threat to the diversity of entertainment retailing.

 

ERA director general Kim Bayley says, "Britain has the most diverse and sophisticated entertainment retailing market in the world, something which is in the interests of both artists and music fans. In order to maintain that retail base it is vital that all retailers compete on a level playing field. Illegal imports threaten that level playing field and threaten British jobs. We therefore welcome the judgment against CD Wow."

 

 

CD Wow loses infringement case

29 May 2007 - 06:00:00

Source: Music week

 

 

The BPI has been awarded £41m in damages in its case against online retailer CD Wow.

 

It says the award is “the largest settlement secured by the UK recording industry to date in a copyright infringement case”.

 

The award comes after CD Wow was in March found to be in contempt of court and in breach of copyright in a case brought by the BPI, having signed undertakings in January 2004 that it would cease to sell CDs to UK and Irish customers that had first been placed on the market outside the European Union, a practice known as parallel importing.

 

Judge Mr Justice Evans-Lombe ruled that CD Wow had breached this undertaking, ordering the company to disclose its trading records to the BPI and to pay £150,000 as a contribution to its costs.

 

The full sum for fines, costs and damages was originally to be decided at a hearing in early July. However, as a result of CD Wow’s failure to co-operate with the court’s orders for disclosure and payment of security, Evans-Lombe decided to award damages last Wednesday.

 

The figure comprises £37m to settle the BPI’s “core claim” and £4m in interest, increasing at the rate of £9,000 a day. The judge will at a later date decide on the level of additional damages that the retailer must pay, as well as the size of the fine the company faces for contempt of court and legal costs to be awarded to the BPI.

 

In addition, the BPI has obtained a “freezing injunction” against the Hong Kong-based company, meaning that all of its assets are frozen. As a result, CD Wow will be allowed to fulfil orders made before the injunction was granted, but none thereafter.

 

BPI general counsel Roz Groome, who spearheaded the BPI’s case, says that the ruling – and the size of the damages awarded – sets an important legal precedent.

 

“This will have a huge deterrent effect against other parallel importers. We will use the judgment and award to eliminate the practice,” she says. “The judgment is very, very clear that parallel importing is illegal. If there was any doubt, there is no doubt now.”

 

BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor adds, “Illegal imports of this kind undermine the huge investments made in homegrown musical talent. This ruling illustrates the lengths that the rogue retailer went to flout the law and maximise its profits at the expense of British musicians and the record companies that support them.

 

“CD Wow is no consumer champion. It is a rogue trader that now has to face the consequences of its actions.”

 

Meanwhile, in another case that will have resonance for retail, the group of independent music stores fighting the Treasury over Low Value Consignment Relief – the tax mechanism that allows online retailers to sell goods such as CDs under the value of £18 into the UK without paying VAT – is now seeking funding to take its battle to the courts.

 

In January, the group wrote to the Treasury threatening legal action over the mechanism, which they see as a tax loophole. They have since received a reply. However, the group’s legal adviser says that the Treasury’s line of reasoning is largely irrelevant and does not affect their own legal argument.

 

Delerium Mail Order owner Richard Allen, who heads the group, says that it is now looking to secure funding and expects a final exchange of letters before going to court.

i like using CD-Wow to buy CD's on import from the US. Bloody record companies.

but all countries are able to buy cd's from hong kong, they're called 'overseas versions' - they just dont come with the extras, or different regions of coding [as I found out with my Ayu (Miss)Understood dvd <_< ]

 

that article is bull tbh, just because someone seen a way to take advantage of the situation does not make it a 'rogue trader'

 

that said, i always buy my cd's from japan itself, because I like all the extras that come with them [although with cds here the extra's arent as good]

Perhaps if the retailers here didn't charge si bloody much (hello HMV!) they would make more sales!
It's pathetic!!!! Why should we have to pay almost 15 pound for 1 CD!! CDWOW is the future of CD prices.. if they want to charge so much then physicals will be no more in a few years
I agree with the ruling, CD Wow is hurting the music industry in Great Britain, the manufacture, the workers who print the cd's, retail anddrivers etc and CD Wow sales aren't eligible for the official charts, so your hurting your favourite artist as well, the only reason CD Wow can sell cheaper cd's is because they use cheap Asian labour to make profits.

Edited by suki

I agree with the ruling, CD Wow is hurting the music industry in Great Britain, the manufacture, the workers who print the cd's, retail anddrivers etc and CD Wow sales aren't eligible for the official charts, so your hurting your favourite artist as well, the only reason CD Wow can sell cheaper cd's is because they use cheap Asian labour to make profits.

 

I'm not sure about the cheap Asian labour thing, but you are SO right, all of the news stories claim it is the third largest retailer of CDs online - how rubbish that they don't contribute toward the chart. For a couple of quid cheaper on a CD (many times not even that, supermarkets regularly have CDs at 7.99 and these are the proper UK versions with bonus tracks etc.) it's really not worth it for the damage it does to the industry.

If prices for CDs actually fell in the UK then I would be more prepared to go into my local HMV and buy a CD rather than wait for a disc to come from CDWOW. Why should you pay nearly double the price for some CDs in your local store? Its absurb. If the record industry are really that concerned about profits in the UK, then they should lower prices and demand might then increase.
CD prices are also alot cheaper in the USA than compared to the UK. Its unfair the British consumer should have to pay more for virtually the same thing.
I never use CD Wow, I prefer play.com for cheap CDs. ^_^
All this will be doing is encouraging illegal downloading of albums even more so the record industry has shot itself in the foot

Create an account or sign in to comment

Recently Browsing 0

  • No registered users viewing this page.