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GPS thwarts parallel importers
Paris, Feb 22 - Motorola has patented a device that can
shut down electronic goods which have been imported into a country outside the
official distribution network, New Scientist, the British science weekly, reported Thursday.
TV sets, video recorders, stereos, computers, cellphones and other gadgets,
purchased cheaply abroad and brought into a national market by "parallel"
importers, can be highly popular with consumers. The unofficial imports often incense
manufacturers because they undercut the company's price arrangements with
local retailers.
Motorola's European research laboratory has found a way to attack these
"grey" imports by fitting the goods with a chip which secretly checks on the
product's whereabouts. The chip gets its location from the Global Positioning System (GPS) or alternatively, is programmed to identify the signal transmitted by the
local TV or radio broadcaster.
If the chip finds that it is somewhere outside a pre-programmed region, it
shuts the product down, making it useless, the British science weekly New
Scientist said.
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