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Quick Links
Stay tuned for the next issue of Brand Sentinel
where we'll spotlight trends, issues and more news from AGMA!
Click here to view the January issue of Brand Sentinel. |
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General Membership - What's New?
Recently, AGMA held its biannual EMEA member meeting, which was hosted by Oracle in London and featured presentations from members of various law enforcement agencies as well as AGMA member company Oracle. The meeting provided members with insights into UK Supreme Court Case rulings and implications for the rights of trademark holders; the evolution of software license compliance; and a review of successful prosecutions of counterfeiting, fraud and IP cases in the UK and internationally.
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Over 13 AGMA member companies sent representatives - a full house was in attendance! | |
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Greetings!
Message from the President
 As we hit the halfway point of 2011, I would like to take a quick moment to reflect on a trend that I have seen occurring at the AGMA member meetings both here and abroad - AGMA member companies are really stepping up in the fight to protect intellectual property rights. From strong representation at conferences and meetings to heightened attention being paid to bringing those that infringe upon those rights to justice, it is a very exciting time at AGMA!
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New Whitepaper on Important Industry Issue: Channel Program Incentive Abuse | |
Designed to boost sales by increasing loyalty and motivating channel partnersto sell more product, channel incentive programs can actually have the opposite effect. In fact, incentive programs can lead to billions in lost profits, and contribute to the gray market. These were findings from a new paper produced by AGMA and Deloitte titled "When Channel Incentives Backfire: Strategies to Help Reduce Gray Market Risks and Improve Profitability."
According to the paper, abuse of channel incentive programs has the potential to cost high tech companies up to $1.4 billion in profit losses each year. What can be done to mitigate these losses and protect high tech companies from exposure? According to AGMA and Deloitte - plenty. Among the strategies detailed in the paper, effective channel management programs enable companies to gain greater visibility into cross-functional incentive programs, and establish globally consistent policies through increased interaction with business and channel partners. A copy of the whitepaper can be obtained at www.agmaglobal.org.
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| AGMA Committees - In Focus | |
 Government Affairs Committee: AGMA's Government Affairs team has been active in the nation's capitol!
The committee congratulates the Justice Department for its tireless efforts to bring individuals that are committing fraud and counterfeiting high tech products to justice.
In a recent ruling on a case involving service and warranty abuse, a Maryland man was sentenced to 84 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution for his participation in a scheme to defraud Cisco Systems Inc. This sentencing is a demonstration that when government and industry work together to combat counterfeiting, justice can prevail.
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AGMA in the News |
When it come to the issues of gray market fraud, parallel imports, counterfeiting, software piracy, and service abuse of technology products, AGMA continues to serve as a go-to source for members of the media.
In a piece titled 'Abuse of Channel Incentive Programs Continues to Grow Gray Market,' eChannelLine's Mark Cox used snippets from his interview with AGMA's Scott Olsen to further explore the joint whitepaper with Deloitte. Please click here to read the article: www.echannelline.com
Additionally, well-known channel publication CRN's UK outpost recently went into depth on the joint whitepaper with Deloitte, including many highlights from the paper in the article. Read the full story here: www.channelweb.co.uk
 ITBusiness.ca's Harmeet Singh spoke with AGMA's Scott Olsen and Peter Hlavnicka, along with Brent Nickerson and Jana Arbanas from Deloitte to get some insights in to the whitepaper. Highlighting the importance of channel programs and relationships, Olsen, who was speaking on behalf of AGMA member company APC by Schneider Electric, noted that his company receives 70 per cent of its business through its channel partners. Click here for the story in its entirety: www.itbusiness.ca
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Upcoming Events
AGMA Americas Quarterly Meeting -July 20-21 at APC by Schneider Electric in Newport, Rhode Island
AGMA APAC Conference - September 8 at HP in Singapore
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