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British Record Companies Win £41m In Damages
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."
> the most recent Scissor Sisters and Macy Gray records both came with Malaysian certificates of authenticity.
This was actually the point where your post lost all credibility.
If you ordered the above items for child or SO, beat them. If you ordered them for yourself, then die.
They're Chinese. They don't give a shit about legal agreements.
"What, you want us to sign an agreement, and then you'll go away? Sure, hand me that pen."
"Uh, what about my cheque?"
"It's in the mail. Bye."
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ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
It has nothing to do with production costs, idiot.
Some people can wait 10 years to get a new tv. Some people will die in a week without medication.
You're a fucking moron.
An example one leading drug company quoted is the cervical cancer vaccine - more expensive in the USA due to having to get R&D money back in their opinion. However it was developed in Australia and the R&D was paid for by the Australia taxpayer - the US public is just getting ripped off in that case and undoubtedly many others.
"R&D" costs encompasses more than just the actual "research and development" -- even if a drug is developed in Australia (where the "R&D" dollars are spent) -- the drug still has to undergo clinical trials in the U.S., which still cost many tens of millions of dollars (if not more) before the drug can be approved to be sold in the states.
Even drugs proven safe in other countries typically have to do some rounds of clinical trials in the U.S., which is why it is not correct to say "no" R&D dollars need to be recouped.
"That's not even wrong..." -- Wolfgang Pauli