Industry Takes On Directory Publisher

By Gary Tufel -- Tradeshow Week, 2/20/2006

The Intl. Assn. for Exhibition Management and UFI, the Global Assn. of the Exhibition Industry have warned their members about an Austrian company that they contend publishes tradeshow exhibitor directories without permission from show management.

Construct Data's Fair Guides have been the object of complaints and lawsuits from both U.S. and European show managers and associations. The company allegedly contacts exhibitors, giving the impression it is sanctioned by show management, to ask if they want to be in a directory of show exhibitors. When exhibitors fill out guide listing or update forms, which resemble official directory forms, they also unknowingly agree to long-term commitments, and are billed and threatened for payment, those who have dealt with the firm said.

Glenn Robertson, operations manager for Niftylift, an exhibitor at the American Rental Assn.'s The Rental Show, said he has been billed $2,200. Robertson said Niftylift has refused to pay despite Construct Data's threats of legal action, and has repeatedly written Construct Data to say it never wanted to be listed.

"We found out we were signed up to be listed in the Fair Guide exhibitor directory for three years at about $1,100 a year, and for a fourth year if we didn't cancel," he said.

Construct Data maintains that its listing forms are neither misleading nor fraudulent. Valerie Kleindienst, a representative of Construct Data customer services, defended her firm as "a legitimate company, registered and tax-paying in Austria and operating in full conformity with Austrian, European and international law."

But the Natl. Assn. for the Specialty Food Trade, which produces the Intl. Fancy Food & Confection Shows, won a default judgment in 2004 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Robert Wasnofski, an associate partner with the law firm of Baker Botts, which represented NASFT, said the court will soon consider NASFT's claims for attorney fees and damages. He said a typical unsuspecting exhibitor or member was billed about $980 per year for a three-year term, for a total of nearly $3,000.

NASFT had known for several years that Construct Data was approaching its exhibitors, but tried to resolve the issue without resorting to legal action, said Doreen Costa, another Baker Botts lawyer. The association sued only after Construct Data repeatedly ignored its requests to cease its activities.

According to IAEM President Steven Hacker, his association decided to intervene because of its "grave concerns regarding the duping of exhibitors and organizers by a company that is clearly conducting fraudulent activities." UFI Managing Director Vincent Gerard said, "Organizers and exhibition center managers should step forward and denounce this type of devious scam. It is our duty to advise our clients of these scurrilous activities."

Kleindienst acknowledged, as does the Fair Guide Web site, that the firm isn't related to any organizer or marketing association. "You are a potential client as soon as you attend a fair," she said.

Kleindienst said Construct Data is legally obliged to include all essential elements of its offers, and does so.

NASFT and the ARA are not the only organizations to lock horns with Construct Data. Exhibitors at some George Little Management shows and the Southern Nursery Assn.'s SNA...The World's Showcase of Horticulture have also been solicited and harassed, show managers said.

Construct Data has been confusing GLM's exhibitors for four years, said Jack Withiam, executive vice president and general counsel of the company. GLM has written to Construct Data and contacted U.S. and Austrian government officials in attempts to thwart its activities — all to no avail.

Colleen Smith, GLM director of administration and assistant counsel, said she has been contacted by at least 500 exhibitors about Construct Data, and believes more have been stung.

A similar story was told by Carla Johnson, the rental association's director of associate member services, about what she labeled an "unscrupulous company." Johnson said she has been sending warnings to exhibitors for years.

Danny Summers, Southern Nursery Assn. executive vice president, said, to his knowledge, neither Fair Guide nor its collection agency has followed through with their threats to take legal action against exhibitors who don't pay the invoices they receive. With support from IPM, a partner show in Germany run by Messe Essen, Summers has continually warned exhibitors about Fair Guide, and advised his exhibitors not to pay.

AUMA (the Assn. of the German Trade Fair Industry) and the United Kingdom's assn. of exhibition organisers have also tried to take action and warn members.

A Karlsruhe, Germany, court ruled in early 2005 that Construct Data couldn't solicit information from exhibitors unless it revealed it didn't have trade fair managers' permission.

The court said Construct Data violated unfair competition laws after an unidentified German show organizer sued to stop it from sending exhibitors what the organizer considered misleading registration forms. German law permits plaintiffs to remain anonymous. Then last June, a judge in Chemnitz, Germany, ruled that an exhibitor who signed and returned Construct Data's registration forms wasn't obligated to pay for the listings because the forms were misleading.

Costa said that because Construct Data continues to use NASFT's trademark, she will file a motion for contempt in the New York case and seek damages and fees of $2,000 for each day that Construct Data does not comply.