By Graeme Wearden, 7 January 2004 16:00
NEWS Internet shopping in the UK could face an upheaval as the music industry gears up for a legal assault on ecommerce sites based overseas that are selling CDs to UK consumers and businesses.
According to the FT, e-tail giant Amazon.com is being investigated by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), which suspects it may be breaking copyright law by shipping CDs from overseas to UK customers.
Two other e-tailers, Play.com and CD Wow, have also been investigated by the BPI. Next month, the BPI will tell the High Court that Hong Kong-based CD Wow is breaking the law by buying CDs in Asia, importing them into the UK and selling them cheaper than UK-based retailers without the permission of the copyright owners.
Sites such as Play.com and CD Wow are popular with some web users, as their wares are often significantly cheaper than those of UK-based rivals. Unlike Amazon.com, both sites offer free delivery on top of prices that are typically much lower than the recommended retail price.
But the BPI is expected to argue in court that this action constitutes "parallel importing", where a supplier buys items in one country and ships them into a second country where the items are more expensive, because the brand owner charges a much higher price.
After a high-profile court battle between Tesco and Levis over the sale of cut-price jeans, the European Court of Justice ruled in 2002 that the importation of trademarked goods into European countries for resale was only allowed if the trademark owner has given 'unequivocal, positive consent' to such importation.
According to Amazon.co.uk, there's no suggestion that it is being investigated by the BPI but a company spokeswoman wasn't able to speak on behalf of Amazon.com - which is expected to give its view on the issue later on Wednesday. The e-tailer has already insisted that it respects the copyright laws of every country it operates in.
The BPI had also failed to respond to a request for comment at the time of writing.
Comments
There are 22 comments. Join the discussion
1. Joe W
Hi, this is <insert media company>. We'd like to request that you not undersell our exhorbitant prices, for the simple reason that it means we actually got our feet in our own mud.
2. Chris O
Apparently it is ok to export your job to a cheap Asian country, but not a CD or DVD.
3. Brian Clegg
It's not just CDs!
Go to Amazon.co.uk and enter 'brian clegg infinity' into the books search.
The result is both the UK edition of my popular science book, selling at £7.19 and the US edition at £6.04. Did they get permission from the copyright holder? Sadly, no.
Brian Clegg
4. Rob
"Please stop selling 'grey' imports to UK citizens as it makes our job of ripping of the British public a little bit harder" is what they are saying isn't it?
Is it about time the public spoke up about this, continual rip-off britian we live in.
5. Joseph Dawson
If the British Record Industry would only admit that there prices are exorbitant and reduced them accordingly the problem, if there is a problem, would not exist.
6. Charles Wood
The record companies should grow up and realise that whenever I buy my goods, I shop worldwide for the lowest price. It's called capitalism, consumer rights, fair trade and world trade.
If they buy a bar of chocolate in the Co-op they might start to understand the implications for themselves, let alone the poor third world countries who have suffered from it's consequences for so long!!
The record industry is a particular case that someone, preferably the UN or world trade organisation (working together for once?) should poke a gun in their faces and say play fair and trade wordwide instead of playing consumer con games under the pretence of fair practices.
For the consumer they are NOT.
7. anonymous
Maybe we need an EU investigation of pricing of CDs & DVDs, why exactly are they so much cheaper elsewhere ?
Oh the copyright owners riping EU citizens off, i forgot !
8. anonymous
Ha ha ha. Hee hee. Hilarious
9. Neil Martin
Isn't this just typical of how the consumer gets screwed because of where he lives. The copyright owner still gets paid the same amount whether I buy the CD retail in the UK or from one of the 'oddshore' internet suppliers. So, the only people not getting the revenue they used to are the local retailers and wholesalers. Someone else is able to undercut them and they want to protect their revenue. The upshot of course will be the BPI will win (as did Levi) and the UK consumer will end up with a higher priced product, which will encourage piracy. Fantastic!
10. anonymous
Its great that there seems to be no-one out there to protect the rights of consumers, while the record companies and retailers who charge extortionate prices in this country get this protection!
11. Ian Savell
<rant>Once again the peoples's government are looking to put the profits of their financial backers above the good of their electors. If CD-WOW can ship me CDs for £8.99 from Hong Kong that they bought legitimately there, exactly who is getting the extra £2 I would pay a UK retailer? It certainly isn't anyone who deserves it. This isn't a copyright issue, it's a competition issue. Where are the competition watchdogs then?</rant>
12. anonymous
The ordinary people of this country get all the disadvantages of a global economy, jobs moving abroad, but none of the advantages, cheaper consumer products.
Maybe the global economy is only for selected organisations to benefit from.
The terms cartel and protectionism spring to mind.
13. David Ward
Another effort to force UK consumers to pay higher prices for goods that are much cheaper anywhere else.
14. Paul
Yet again the money grabbing music industry is ripping off the British public. It's not enough that they trying to sell us second-rate pop idol trash and premimum prices. Now they want to prevent us from buying CDs/DVDs at realistic prices from foriegn based websites. (Of course they are also ripping off the artists as well.)
I know only buy CDs from shops when they have their sales, eg £5.99/£6.99, when I can get through the crush of people...
15. anonymous
Its cheaper to buy CD's from outside the UK even when you add on the cost of air freight, import duty and vat
Its still much cheaper to buy a CD by an English artist from any overseas website than from the UK even when you add on the cost of air freight, import duty, vat and currency conversion charges. This shows how much the UK consumer is being ripped off.
I will continue to buy from overseas because my opinion is that I have paid for a fully legal copy of the CD (the artist still gets their cut). I have paid the UK government their VAT and import taxes, as far as I am concerned the CD is a legal as if i had bought it in the UK. I haven't copied it so I haven't breached any copyright laws. I thought fixing prices and ideas like setting RRP was illegal in the UK
16. Leo
Anyone else been charged import duty?? Having ordered a DVD from Cd-Wow I was disgusted when instead of receiving the DVD through the letterbox I got a post office card advising me that I have an item to pick up from the post office but will have to pay over £10 on collection.
17. anonymous
It seems globalisation is fine when the fat cat multinational corporations are the ones doing the exploiting but when the average consumer tries to work the global market to their advantage they are accused of unfair practices. All I can say to these people is... "You created the global market, so learn to live with it".
18. Eric Jackson
Why are they grey imports surely the idea of the internet is to promote global enterprise? Why should we in the UK pay premium prices for our music? Maybe the record companies should look to reduce the phenomenal amount of money they pay to some of their "stars"!!
19. John Wheatcroft
Please stop selling "grey" software products to the UK. You are damaging people's livlihoods.
John - Software-City
20. anonymous
If this is the case, what happens to such albums you can't get in this country? For example, to get "Face the Music" by ELO, you have to import it from the US. I live in the band's hometown of Birmingham, yet you can't get the album anywhere! Would this be classed as an illegal import?
21. Anonymous
Can the record companies please prove that this import business is making them poor and that the artists themselves are living below the poverty line as a result. Or does the un-written british constitution grant millionaire-RIGHTS unreservedly to these class of "alleged victims".
In actual fact I can tell you what happens, the CD/DVDs etc. are all manufactured dirt-cheap in China/India, surely even the recording is done cheap and then to make FAT profits the records are sold at (RRP) Ripoff Retail Prices to UK people saying that production costs are high. PLEASE give me a break!! Justify your costs and earn your share.
22. Doug Whitmore
If it is illegal to import CD's into this country, the trade-off should be that the record companies are not allowed to charge more than you could buy it for overseas and would be fined if they tried it. I'm sure that the BPI will agree to this as it is only fair (I'm being sarcastic if you hadn't guessed). Fat chance of government standing up to this kind of sharp practice, they are spineless.