Merit Announces Robert C. Fay hired as Director of Government Relations
Bensalem, PA (March 22, 2006) – Merit announced today the addition of Robert C. Fay to its senior management team as Director of Government Relations. Mr. Fay will focus on government relations and on eliminating counterfeiting, copyright, and trademark violations of Merit's Megatouch game systems.
Mr. Fay is a former FBI agent with over twenty-five years of intellectual property experience. Mr. Fay also served as President of the American Amusement Machine Association (AAMA) during the 1990's. During his tenure at AAMA, he led the campaign that virtually eliminated worldwide coin-op piracy. Mr. Fay maintains strong relations with the embassies, trade organizations, and law enforcement officials in the United States and around the world. Mr. Fay has worked extensively in Argentina, the Baltics, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, India, Korea, Mexico, Spain, Taiwan, and throughout much of the rest of the world.
"I am pleased to add Bob to our team here at Merit," said Dave Logan, Merit's CEO. "As our U.S. and international sales have grown, with over four billion plays per year, we have increasingly attracted the attention of copiers, counterfeiters and pirates, particularly in developing countries. I look forward to working with Bob to address these issues, like he did for the whole industry when he was at AAMA."
According to the Business Software Alliance, international piracy imposed a cost on purchasers and developers of over thirty billion dollars in 2005. It costs the United States over one hundred thousand jobs every year. By competing with U.S. exports, pirated software also contributes to the U.S. trade deficit.
Commenting on his new role, Mr. Fay said "We're going to take an aggressive approach to attack and eliminate any Merit counterfeit problems worldwide. We will take the fight to all levels, from the operators collecting fees on pirated games, to the distributors selling illegal hardware and software, to the manufacturers and engineers who are performing the counterfeiting. Through my contacts in law and enforcement and at U.S. embassies around the world, we will find and stop them wherever they operate. We will be relentless in their pursuit until the problem is eliminated."
For more than 27 years, Merit has ensured long-term return on investment for operators by providing continually high-earning equipment along with updates and upgrades for its products. With an installed base of over 250,000 touch-screen games garnering nearly 4.6 billion plays per year, Merit Entertainment is the worldwide leader in touch-screen entertainment devices. Merit Entertainment products appear globally in a wide array of venues and appeal to an almost limitless demographic. Merit continues to expand its position in the industry with ever-increasing entertainment, content and new games. The company maintains a Web site with all the latest information at www.meritind.com.
450
