EMA Publishes Standards For Benefit Denial Technology

The Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) today announced that it has published threshold standards for “benefit denial technology” that would allow DVDs and videogames to be shipped to retail outlets in an inoperable state and subsequently enabled at the point of sale. The standards are designed to encourage the development of videogame and DVD benefit denial technology and allow benefit denial technology providers to align or design their systems to the extent possible to the needs of retailers and content providers.

The threshold standards were developed by key retailers, home video divisions, and video game publishers brought together by EMA to examine the feasibility of implementing DVD and video game benefit denial technology. The effort, nicknamed “Project Lazarus,” is also focusing currently on developing criteria for the evaluation of proposed systems and developing a cost-benefit analysis for the technologies, based on empirical data and forecasting. Bo Andersen, President and CEO of EMA commented:

“The deployment of benefit denial technology would reduce shrink in video game and DVD stocks, increase open marketing of video games, reduce packaging, decrease labor costs, improve consumer access to video games and Blu-ray discs, and make the categories more attractive for additional retail channels. Given the myriad of potential benefits, EMA recognized the imperative to bring together major stakeholders to provide an impetus for further development and timely deployment of effective benefit denial technologies for DVDs and video games that are useful and effective for a broad range of entertainment retailers.”

Benefit denial is the concept of denying the shoplifter or internal thief the ability to use stolen goods. For example, the apparel industry deploys security tags containing sealed vials of permanent dye that break if forcibly removed from a garment, rendering the item unsuitable for wear, return, or resale. Another example is the gift card, which has no value until it is activated at the point-of-sale. Applying this concept to the home entertainment industry, systems have been developed to allow DVDs and video games to be shipped to retail stores in a disabled state and then be activated during a point-of-sale transaction.

Source: Internal