International Law

Alan Kippax on BIM

Mr. Kippax, the marketing genius behind the Treasure Trader pyramid scheme, has some unkind words for CBC's Marketplace show on his latest scheme, Business in Motion.

Mr. Kippax's odd diatribe should give the lie to the claim that con criminals are charming because no one can feel any other than disgust and distaste listening to this bully rant and rave.

At one point, Kippax claims that an ex Revenue Canada agent who worked in licensing US network marketing companies investigate BIM. Kippax claims "you had to pass and get a license from her."

There is no such licensing requirement in Canada, nor if there were would Revenue Canada have anything to do with it.

Kippax may be referring to the Advisory Opinion program run by Competition Bureau.

An opinion under the Commissioner's Program of Advisory Opinions can be requested as to whether a proposed marketing plan would give the Commissioner reason to initiate an inquiry under sections 55 or 55.1 of the Act.

Opinions take into account previous jurisprudence, previous opinions and the stated policies of the Commissioner.

The requestor should recognize that opinions are only given in relation to the Act and not in relation to other statutes, such as the Criminal Code of Canada.

In order to provide an informed opinion, the Commissioner requires adequate disclosure of all material facts relating to the proposed plan, including the name of the requestor and the proposed business.

The more complete and accurate the information provided, the less qualified the opinion will be and the less likely it is that the matter would be subject to revision because of new information received.

The information that is submitted should include a description of the compensation plan, all promotional brochures, pamphlets, videos, audiotapes, contractual agreements and any other material which provides information relating to the marketing plan.

The requestor must also confirm that the proposed plan raises no issues that are being considered by any other law enforcement agency in Canada or abroad.

Those who seek an opinion are not bound by it and should a negative opinion be given on the plan, operators remain free to adopt the plan in question, recognizing that the matter may be tested in the courts.

Similarly, the Commissioner is not bound by such opinions. They are given in relation to a specific set of facts.

Should a plan that is implemented be different from the plan presented to the Commissioner, or should conditions change in a way that impact of the plan, the matter could be subject to further examination and the opinion revised.

What should have been part of the CBC's Question and Answer on BIM is the next section from the Competition Bureau's Advisory Program:

"An opinion under sections 55 and 55.1 of the Act will not be given in the following situations: where the plan involves gold or silver coins, the travel industry or discount cards.

An opinion will not be given in these situations because of the difficulty of establishing the value of these products.

In such cases it is not possible to determine whether consideration is being paid for the right to receive bonuses for recruitment."

This immediately proves the lie behind Kippax's statement that an ex employee from the Federal government was reviewing BIM with respect to the Competition Bureau's Advisory Program.  (I will anxiously await Kippax's $10,000 for proving him less than 100% honest.)

Unlike the FTC's Staff Opinions, the Competition Bureau's Advisory Opinions are not online, nor is the application with materials accessible.

This is a major failing of the program - what is needed is to open up the process so that social media and the wisdom of the crowd can be used to throughly review, comment and vet these network marketing programs.

Full post as published by Misleading Advertising Law on February 22, 2009 (boomark / email).