“Kameda, Heitaro, why are both of you here?” Feng Yu was surprised to see Kameda Masao and Heitaro Nakajima in his Wind and Rain Empire State Building’s office.
Kameda Masao should be liaising with Tai Hua Holdings on its hard disk technologies as they had spent a lot of money to buy technologies. They should set up factories and a research center to continue developing it.
As for Heitaro Nakajima, AIWA had introduced a new earphone, and he should be focusing on its sales now.
“Boss, AIWA is being sued!” Heitaro Nakajima said.
“Huh? Being sued?! Why? By whom?” Feng Yu first thought to his mind is Sony is finding trouble with AIWA again.
“We are being sued by a company called, Recording Industry Association of America, for intellectual property rights infringements because we are allowing free downloads of MP3 songs.” Heitaro Nakajima explained.
Feng Yu frowned. “Didn’t I ask you all to set up a website that charges users when they download MP3, and you told me that it had been done?”
“Yes. The website is up, and our customers who bought our MP3 players will get a free account that allows them to have unlimited downloads for a month. We had also gotten the property rights to the songs. But many of the users are unhappy with the variety of songs on our websites, and some websites started providing free downloads of songs. This had nothing to do with us.”
Heitaro Nakajima is frustrated. He felt like he is a knife seller, and someone had bought and used the knife to kill someone. How can he be responsible for that crime? Furthermore, he had reminded this customer that the knife he sold is supposed to be used in the kitchen and not for killing others!
That Recording Industry Association must be jealous of the rising sales of AIWA’s MP3 players!
We are not selling counterfeits, and why are we being sued?
Kameda Masao added. “The courts in the US had accepted this case and want us to attend courts. I had hired the best lawyer on the East Coast, and we will win this case!”
“Yes. You are right. They are jealous of our product. Since we had done nothing wrong, we will fight this case to the end. Not only must we win this case, but we also have to drag it out by one or two months and let the media report about this.”
Heitaro Nakajima does not understand the purpose of doing this, but Kameda Masao replied with an ‘impressed’ expression. “Boss, you want to use this court case to promote our MP3 players? This will surely attract the attention of many people, and it is equivalent to advertising all over the US and the world. Our MP3 player sales will surely skyrocket!”
It’s easy to speak to a smart person. Heitaro Nakajima might be talented in developing music-related electronic products and management. Still, in terms of sales, Kameda Masao is much better.
Also, Heitaro Nakajima is getting older, and his mind is not as sharp as before. He is not as motivated in the past two years, compared to before. Seems like it’s time to get a successor for AIWA.
Heitaro Nakajima’s deputy is a good candidate. He is below 40 years old and had been working for Heitaro Nakajima for almost 20 years. He had experienced AIWA’s ups and downs with Heitaro Nakajima, and most importantly, he is ambitious and good at flattery like Kameda Masao.
Feng Yu does not like people without ambition. He is not afraid of his subordinates being ambitious, as none of his subordinates can escape his clutches!
“Heitaro Nakajima, our second generation of MP3 players, had been released. When are we introducing the third generation?” Feng Yu asked.
“We will release the third generation of MP3 players after we won the court case. This new MP3 player will have bigger storage of 512mb, and it’s only the size of two fingers. It will be using two No.7 batteries and can last for 8 hours. There will be an LCD display, and the customer can set up a playlist…”
Feng Yu nodded with satisfaction as he listened to Heitaro Nakajima’s introduction of their latest product.
That’s right. MP3 players must be small and compact, and this is the selling point of it.
Sony’s MD player is quite good, except for its size. Since it is a portable music player, it must be small.
The MP3 player is still using flash drive technology, and flash drives are very expensive now. But the good thing is you can add or remove the songs in the MP3 player with a PC.
The best part about the MP3 player is for the user to download the songs they want. Most CDs in the market are albums, and customers might not like all the songs in the album.
If CD does not have this flaw, cassette player Walkman would have been obsoleted a long time ago.
“Did anyone in the market notice our MP3 players, and start imitation?” This very important. The amount of energy and funds put into the development is very different when one is one step ahead, and the other is half a step ahead.
“Yes. Samsung had started their research on MP3 players and had introduced a model. But their player’s size and functions are the same as our first generation players. When their player is launched, other than South Korea, no customers are buying. Some other companies in South Korea had also looked into MP3 players but still have not produced any products. In the US, a company called Diamond had introduced an MP3 player that is similar to our second-generation players and is selling in North America.”
Heitaro Nakajima is very proud. Samsung had become a follower, and it’s hard for a follower to overtake him.
AIWA’s technologies, sales channels, factories, branding, etc. are stronger and is ahead of its competitors. The total sales of other brands MP3 players cannot be compared to AIWA.
“So companies are producing MP3 players. Are they sued?”
“No. We are the only ones who are sued. That’s why I am sure they are targeting us! Out of all the companies, only our companies are providing licensed MP3 songs to download on our website!”
When mentioned this, Heitaro Nakajima is furious. Why are you not suing the ones who are supposed to be sued?!
Feng Yu heard this and is mad. Do you think you can step all over us?! Is it AIWA is growing rapidly, and you all want to stop us?
If AIWA is the only company that was sued, the other companies might take this opportunity to overtake them. Since you all want to fight, then we will fight!
Feng Yu will use this opportunity to target the other company’s products. The Recording Industry Association claims that downloading pirated MP3 songs is illegal. We are providing MP3 songs with copyrights, and those companies are not. You all should sue them.
“Alright. We will fight them in courts, and our development must continue. Don’t be afraid of spending too much research funds, as this product will bring in lots of profit in the future. If you all encounter any problem with the lawsuit, inform me. I will think of a solution.”
Translator’s notes:
Recording Industry Association of America
