Music labels want CD Wow fined - 22 Feb 2007
(as reported by http://www.webuser.co.uk)

The British music industry has been criticised for taking action against online retailer CD Wow for allegedly illegally importing CDs into the UK.

Trade body the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) claims CD Wow is breaking a previous court-ordered undertaking by buying CDs for less in other countries and then selling them in the UK.

In August 2002, the BPI issued proceedings against CD Wow for allegedly illegally importing discs into the UK from Asia, with the case settled out of court. CD Wow agreed that it would not sell CDs that have been first placed on the market outside Europe to UK customers.

 

But according to the BPI, it has evidence which shows that CD Wow has “systematically broken undertakings embodied in a court order” and “has continued to import CDs illegally”.

The BPI said CD Wow shareholder Philip Robinson has accepted that CD Wow was in breach of its undertakings to the Court and that he had agreed to pay £50,000 to the music industry for costs incurred by the industry in bringing the case against him.

But the BPI said it wants CD Wow to be found in contempt of Court, has asked for an order that CD Wow pay damages for breach of copyright and an order that CD Wow pay the UK record industry's costs.

Mark Mulligan, vice president and research director at Jupiter Research, has said: “Sometimes the music industry just doesn't help itself. With music sales plummeting there has never been a better time for the record labels to start garnering a little sympathy. But then they go and do something like this.”

“The great irony is that CD Wow weren't buying from shady distributors but directly from the local divisions of the very labels taking them to court in the UK. With music sales declining the labels need to be doing everything they can to foment sales. CDs are still too expensive.

“That's why sites like CD Wow have proven successful. If the labels insist on trying to maintain CD prices then they'll lose sales and force many consumers into choosing between either not buying or going to a file sharing network.”

BPI general counsel Roz Groome said: "We believe CD Wow is guilty of flagrant and systematic breaches of a High Court order. The penalties for such breaches can be significant. Contrary to some reports this case is nothing to do with price. Plenty of retailers manage to sell CDs at competitive prices without breaking the law.”

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