Intellectual property and counterfeiting – it’s a brand rip off! Plan to attend IP event, Jan. 14 at the NAMM Show.

For the past several years, issues about intellectual property rights and counterfeiting have surfaced in the music products industry. It’s serious and shouldn’t be ignored by music products brand holders who value their brand equity and profitability. According to a brief prepared by the law firm McAndrews, Held & Malloy, counterfeiting costs U.S. businesses $200 - $250 billion annually and is directly responsible for the loss of 750,000 American jobs. Also, the Food and Drug Administration estimates that counterfeit drugs comprise 10% of the global medicine market and the Federal Aviation Administration estimates that 2% of the 26 million airplane parts installed each year are counterfeit. (source)

NAMM-Member CEO’s are taking action. Please see the attached letter from Jim D’Addario of D’Addario & Co. outlining his company’s relentless anti-counterfeiting efforts that culminated with a visit to his Long Island manufacturing facility by US Senator Chuck Schumer and subsequent letters from Sen. Schumer to Attorney General Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano, head of homeland security outlining counterfeiting illegalities. Within hours of these letters being produced and circulated, counterfeited products were removed from offending websites: details in Jim’s letter.

 As someone who watches a lot of “Law and Order,” I kept hearing the program’s sound track in my head as the plot un-folded. Way to go Jim and the D’Addario team!

 But this one example of counterfeiting push back is not enough. We need all US-music product manufacturers to get smarter on this issue. NAMM and PAMA are hosting a Music and Sound Intellectual Property Task Force Meeting, Jan. 14, 2011 4 – 6 p.m. during the NAMM Show. Details below. Please RSVP to me and/or to be part of the IP task force, email me at MaryL@namm.org . For your brand’s future, you need to attend.

 Also, see attached an important report from the US International Trade Commission: “China: Intellectual Property Infringement, Indigenous Innovation Policies, and Frameworks for Measuring the Effects on the U.S. Economy.” It’s a long report, but for your brand’s sake, it’s a page turner!

 Music and Sound Intellectual Property Task Force Meeting
The Global Marketplace is the Wild West, But Who is the Sheriff?

Friday, January 14, 2011
4 p.m. presentation and panel
5:15 – 6 p.m. cocktail reception
Hilton Anaheim Level 4, Room: Laguna A/B
Presented by NAMM

Featuring:
Dean A. Pelletier - Board Member, McAndrews, Held & Malloy
Presentation Title: Protecting Economic Drivers Because All Roads Lead To The U.S.
Description: Dean will address issues pertinent to today’s intellectual property (IP) environment, including preventing illegal imports through International Trade Commission actions, enforcing IP through traditional, U.S. litigation and effectively partnering with foreign manufacturing entities when you’re sharing your technology with them. Based on recent experience in the field he’ll weave in personal anecdotes and current events to provide context.

Panel Discussion: “Protecting IP brand and product: rules of the road”
Dean Pelletier – McAndrews, Held & Malloy
Vladimir I. Arezina – Associate General Counsel, Shure Incorporated
Jim D’Addario, President and CEO, D’Addario & Company Inc.

Moderated by: Jim Goldberg, Goldberg Associates, Washington DC