The date for the 2010 ASGA Annual Conference has been set for Tuesday, 26 October, 2010. The theme of this year’s conference will be New Directions in Sport, and will focus on new directions and developments in sports business, policy, funding, opportunities and new developments in the industry.

Registering your company’s trade marks is an important step in protecting your brand. However, your company needs to actually use those trade marks if they are to remain on the Trade Marks Register without becoming vulnerable to having their registration cancelled for “non-use”.

 

“There has to be something better”. It’s the first line of the first chapter of the Under Armour story. It’s what went through Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank’s head when he envisioned the first moisture-wicking compression T-shirt. It’s about innovation.

New Board Members

The ASGA Board is pleased to announce that Marne Fechner, Chief Commercial Officer of Netball Australia has joined the Board filling the final independent member vacancy.  The Board welcomes Marne to the role and looks forward to her contribution.

Following on from previous articles ASGA has engaged a strategic communications consultancy with significant Government Relations experience working with industry bodies and similar organizations to assist us in our campaign development, strategy and research. The firm is called InsideOut Strategic, www.insideoutstrategic.com.au

adidas chief hits back at World Cup ball criticism

adidas chief executive Herbert Hainer has insisted that criticism of the Jabulani World Cup ball has not harmed the company’s brand.

Players and managers have slammed the ball for being hard to control and unpredictable in the air.

By now most members would have received their copy of the 2010/11 Membership booklet and Market Intelligence Survey Subscription forms.

A reminder that Market Intelligence Survey subscriptions expire on 30 June and must be renewed to receive market intelligence information beyond 1 July 2010.  The Membership and Survey Subscription form has been posted out and can be returned to ASGA by post or fax.

If members would like to discuss their membership please feel free to contact Brad Kitschke on (03)9263-5394 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

For some time ASGA has been campaigning to have the Federal Government change the rules about the GST and online trading.

Online trading allows a consumer, or in many cases an online trader, the opportunity to purchase overseas goods, most commonly via the internet, and not pay the GST, import duties or customs duties for goods up to the value of $999. 

Australian online businesses must add the GST to their sales and overseas wholesale companies who regularly ship goods into Australia are required to add the GST to their invoices for all items over $1,000, however online overseas traders are not.

ASGA believes that this creates an anti-competitive market and is harming the sporting goods industry. It particularly hurts the viability of wholesalers and retailers.

The growth of the market has occurred faster than its regulation, or the willingness of governments to address the problem and its effect on Australian business and Australian jobs. 

ASGA, along with other industry bodies, is campaigning for a reduction of the threshold amount from $1000 to $400, to be in line with other countries, such as New Zealand. ASGA also would like greater compliance and interaction between Australian Customs and Australia Post to better evaluate and police the potential for online traders avoiding payment of duties and taxation.

ASGA believes this issue is extremely important to the future of the sporting goods industry and to its employees and will continue its campaign to protect the industry.