If you read the update to the quoted article of Heise-online it says
that the Meizo booth was reopened later that day and the Meizo MiniOne
was on display again. The whole issue was about an MP3 player by Meizo,
not the MiniOne.
See you,
Eddie C. Dost
Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller wrote:
Am 06.03.2008 um 10:41 schrieb Gabriel Ambuehl:
On Thursday 06 March 2008 09:57:22 Mario Wewer wrote:
Hello community,
does anyone of you already have a "Meizu MiniOne" Phone?
You mean it's *not* vapor ware but actually for sale?
There was a note on the German online magazine Heise-online that the
German tax and duties authorities have confiscated all Meizu MiniOne
devices during CeBIT because of patent infringement issues:
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/104558
And before you ask: yes, this is possible and legal. A company who has a
patent in Europe can ask the tax authorities to confiscate infringing
hardware as product piracy *when they are imported and enter the
European Union*. In the case of CeBIT it is much simpler to wait until
the manufacturer shows everything on their booth, than trying to find
something in the baggage of the exhibitor's staff at the airports.
The importer must then show proof that he has valid licenses and has
paid any relevant fees. If he has or does not infringe patents, he can
ask the original company who has done this for compensation (i.e. damage
in image, loss of revenue and customers). The latter point shows that
the patent owners must be quite sure what they do (or have enough
money). But this all takes time and CeBIT has already closed its doors.
The same has happened several times for MP3 players in previous years.
Basically all this is a "service" that one gets by having a patent and
paying the patent fees. He can ask tax&duty authorities for help to
protect against infringing imports.
So my conclusion is: it is not vapor because these devices exist - but
they can't be sold or imported legally into the EU.
Nikolaus
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