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British Record Companies Win £41m In Damages

Posted by kdawson on from the segmenting-the-world dept.

Benjamin Fox writes "The BBC is reporting that online retailer CD-Wow has been ordered to pay £41m to the British Phonographic Industry. The London High Court ruled that Hong Kong-based CD-Wow, which imports cheap (but genuine) CDs from Hong Kong and elsewhere into the U.K., is '"in substantial breach" of a 2004 agreement to stop importing CDs.' This is a serious blow to proponents of an open, no-barrier music market."

4 of 271 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Hong Kong-based CD-Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    In Lik Sang's and CD-Wow's case, transfer of physical products through the mail is involved. TPB is just signposts to other internet users running bittorrent trackers, which are signposts to other internet users uploading and downloading tiny pieces of files.

  2. Re:Same argument as... by Dun+Malg · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's a tricky issue for a libertarian-leaning capitalist like myself. ... On the other, property rights should be respected. The first thing that'll help you with this argument is the realization that "Intellectual Property" is not property. Copyright is an artificial construct of government, whereby certain entities are granted a limited time monopoly on the copying of their creative works. This monopoly is actually a restriction on the rights of everyone else. Now, this monopoly can be sold as property, but that's hardly relevent. "Respecting their property" has nothing to do with "respecting copyright". The work itself is irreversibly part of our common culture once it's revealed.
    --
    If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
  3. Re:Hong Kong-based CD-Wow by turbidostato · · Score: 2, Informative

    That's the beauty of globalisation: big corporations can go to China to produce at Chinese wages and sell at first world prices. But beware, oh you petty consumer if you try to go to China to buy at chinese prices! That's (obviously) illegal.

  4. Re:It seems to be normal in the UK by wildstoo · · Score: 2, Informative

    You're absolutely wrong. Most British people are extremely aware they are being ripped off. Hence the term Rip-Off Britain. Trust me, we know and we're as mad about it as anyone.

    As for us "not travelling outside our island", I'd like to see where you got that statistic, but I'm fairly certain that most Brits are at least as well-travelled and cosmopolitan as their counterparts throughout the world. I'm willing to be proved wrong.

    P.S. You mentioned Spain, so if you are Spanish I concede that you've probably seen tourists representing the very worst that Britain has to offer. Please don't let that cloud your opinion of the vast majority of Brits who are fairly reasonable and intelligent. :)