Greetings once again. As I informed you last month, it looks like we're finally going to get before a Judge. Our hearing date is scheduled for March 30, and of course by the time you are reading this we will have been and gone. As of this writing, it is short few days away, and the anticipation is almost unbearable. After waiting this long for a date, the next 3 days will feel like a century. I suppose the one positive thing I can say about all the delays is it sure gives us lots of time to be prepared!
The legal defence team is completely armed, and ready to deal with any possible arguments from the Crown. As I've told you in the past, the Crown's position on this whole issue is that this ought to be dealt with by a trial, not by way of a motion in a higher court. The lawyers have ample argument to get us over this hump. The essence of our argument is that the offence simply does not exist under law, therefore the seizure and charges are illegal. This is essentially the same procedure used in many of the other prominent cases we have discussed here over the last year or so, and has been quite successful in those cases. Of course, having the same attorney who won those cases doesn't hurt either. But the bottom line is, a trial is used to adduce evidence. We do not need evidence, we only need interpret the law. Therefore, a trial is not needed.
One of the other points on which the Crown absolutely refuses to budge is that the systems which I was importing are 'inherently illegal', and therefore the seizure was legal, and the equipment should not be returned under any circumstances. What the Crown seems to ignore is the fact that NOBODY else in Canada has had these systems seized upon importation! How could that be the case if they were 'inherently illegal' ? Since the time that my systems have been in the hands of the RCMP, I have seen numerous other businesses openly carrying on the practice of retailing the same systems, apparently unimpeded by the RCMP.
In fact, just last Friday, in the Winnipeg Sun, was a full page ad for a local electronics 'superstore', and right in the corner of the ad was an RCA DSS right alongside the ExpressVu and StarChoice systems. The timing couldn't have been better! But, to top it all off, as an illustration of just how widespread and unimpeded the sale of RCA DSS systems are in Canada, a wonderful present was dropped in my mailbox by Canada Post. I thought it was the ultimate in ironies. Here I am battling it out with members of the RCMP, and who should come to my aid, but Robin's Donuts. "....Win this fabulous prize! .....RCA DRD3130A DSS system..value $699.99...." read the promotional flyer! I had to read it twice and check the date on it, I could not believe my eyes. I chuckled to myself, thinking of Corporal Struck, and his cronies, going in for his next chocolate dip, and seeing these posters plastered around the donut shop. I think they may start going to Tim Hortons Donuts instead....
Aside from all of these issues, we also have the argument of trial within a reasonable period, as I explained last month. This is not our primary argument, however. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending how you look at it, we have many grounds to have these charges dismissed. But, if we merely get them dismissed on a technical point, without having the real legal questions decided, it would be of little signifigance in the long term. It would get my stuff back, but wouldn't prevent the RCMP from continuing on their crusade. So, we are reserving the more technical grounds as secondary, should the Court decide not to hear our primary arguments, or rules against us on them. In any event, the lawyers are extremely confident that we shall be successful on one or more arguments, and I can't wait! The unfortunate thing is that we only have one day scheduled right now, and we have alot of ground to cover. As well, the Crown will surely drag their feet at every opportunity in order to force an adjournment to a later date.
On other fronts, things seem to still be fairly active at the retail level. Slowly but surely, consumers have been coming back around, encouraged by the full page ads we ran in the Winnipeg Sun back in January. There also seem to be many consumers who have been abondoned or simply got frustrated with the support (or lack thereof...) they were receiving from their dealer. It is encouraging to see that they have the confidence to continue to invest in their systems.
Apparently, from what I have heard lately, activations are down to a trickle at ExpressVu. I haven't checked with StarChoice, but I wouldn't be surprised if that is the case there. Other bad news may be in the making which could also make ExpressVu's future quite shaky. As you may or may not be aware, ExpressVu is backed in large part by BCTel, which many people saw as an extremely stable source of operating capital, allowing them to operate at a loss for a long period of time while they acquire a significant subscription base. The stability of BCTel is now being threatened, due to a possible merger which will break up an alliance BCTel shares with other phone companies across Canada. According to industry sources, this will cause massive cuts in profits, and force drastic restructuring of the company. If this is the case, and ExpressVu continues to perform in a slump, it may find itself on the chopping block. The sinking of the titanic.........Canadian style.
It's been a busy month, and I hope to have some very good news to report to you in the very near future!
Dean
Dean