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Background
The world is going digital. Fuelled by
the rapid spread of high-speed connectivity and standards, information
and entertainment today is increasingly delivered in digital formats.
Digital solutions combine traditional content (entertainment, product
information, marketing collateral, process components and application
software) with the personalised services that deliver what customers
need, when they need it, to the devices and channels they specify.
Research has shown that more content
will be created over the next two years than over the entire history
of mankind—and 93 percent of it will be digital. Not only
is every organization competing on content, but in this new world
of digital bits and bytes, all organizations are becoming content
companies. The real issue is how fast your organisation can capture
the new value that digital content solutions create.
Customs and international trade issues
Piracy is the greatest threat facing
the music industry today. The global pirate music market totalled
1.9 billion units in 2001 with a value of US$4.3 billion, which
means that almost 40% of all CDs and cassettes sold around the
globe are pirated copies. In South East Asia, Russia and parts
of Europe the pirate trade remains driven by large manufacturing
plants.
Royalties: In many cases, artist’s royalties and probably
mechanical royalties will be held by the Customs Authorities to
be dutiable.
Solutions to help you succeed
Piracy: Protecting your products against counterfeited
and pirated goods can help maintain legitimate sales and market
share; ensure customer satisfaction; safeguard your distribution
network; and protect your brand image. Trademark owners of rights
can ask Customs to intervene when suspect goods are under customs
control. The goods can be held for a limited time while the owners
of the intellectual property right or trade mark can take the
question to the national courts under national law to seek redress.
We can assist clients by advising on the process and strategies
to be followed; and completing and lodging applications to intercept
counterfeit and pirated products.
Royalties: We can prepare an unbundling
argument to address on-going customs valuation obligations and
to pre-empt potential investigations by the customs authorities.
A proactive approach would involve, for instance, reaching agreement
- on those elements of the royalty that are dutiable - with the
customs authorities where potential duty exposure is greatest.
Please note that we always welcome
the opportunity to work with intellectual property lawyers.
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