It is only those of us who have been around 25-plus years who’d remember, but the great hoo-ha over parallel imports has suddenly raised its ugly head again.
Manufacturers of games appoint distributors in different countries. So what happens when someone flies in games and sells them, by-passing the official distributor? Is that legal?
It was a big issue in the 1980s, particularly with amusement games. Some fierce verbal battles and a few courtroom skirmishes followed and the problem spread out of the US, where it began, into Europe and other markets, with the same levels of passion.
It doesn’t seem to be an issue these days; I don’t know why. Perhaps it is because far fewer amusement games are sold and therefore the same high volumes of product – and of profits – are no longer there. But anyway, it hasn’t been mentioned as an issue for years.
But who was right? Was it actually legal? We’ve found out – at least in the American courts.
One Bill Beckham entered the fray in the 1980s, an operator, in fact, of Red Baron Amusements, who I think bought some parallel imported games and challenged the entrenched position of the suppliers who criticised him. Now the US courts have belatedly proved him right – parallels are legal.
The ruling is for products purchased overseas and then imported into the US for sale or distribution – they are exempted from copyright infringement, the US Supreme Court has ruled. In Beckham’s case it went to the fourth circuit Court of Appeals as a test case – and it was against Taito, who sought to control imports of its Double Dragon bought overseas.
Beckham won but lost an appeal. Congress has since amended the copyright laws, but the question of “first sale doctrine” remained an unresolved issue. The court last week, in a case which was not about games, but which referred several times to the old Beckham v Taito case, ruled that parallels were legal under the current law.
If there is an effect today, then it is that a manufacturer cannot operate price discrimination between international markets.
I haven’t seen Bill Beckham for a few years, but suspect he will now feel vindicated.
