Jens of Sweden 'declared bankrupt'

Resurfaces in Switzerland, apparently

By Tony Smith • Get more from this author

Posted in Financial News, 21st September 2005 14:03 GMT

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Swedish MP3-player vendor Jens of Sweden is back, reborn as Switzerland-based JOS, after declaring itself bankrupt in its home country.

According to reports in Computer Sweden magazine and newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, translated by newssite The Local, faults with Jens' MP130 player cost the company dear. So did the collapse of one of the company's US resellers.

The company was also hit by a big bill from Sweden's customs service, which discovered that imported players had only accrued a two per cent duty when, because they incorporate FM radios, they should have attracted a ten per cent duty. Whoops.

The upshot: Jens called it quits in its native land, and set up shop outside the European Union in Switzerland, the reports claim, though the JOS website lists only a Swedish address on its contacts page, when we checked today.

Jens' founder Jens Nylander hit the headlines last week for its refusal to pay a levy imposed on MP3 players in Sweden to compensate the music industry for revenue lost to piracy.

"It doesn't matter how many times I go bankrupt. I'll still continue to sell digital products," Nyland told Computer Sweden. "It's important that our old customers will be able to come back to us. All the staff will be offered jobs in the new company.

"Considering the orders we have and the international demand for our brand, the future is positive," Nylander said. ®

Understand how application security is evolving