Bandai Cracks Down Intellectual Property Infringement

Tom the Fish · Post by **Tom the Fish** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 10:07 pm

http://www.bandai-ent.com/news/pr.cfm?id=81

Interesting...

Tom

Chaos Angel · Post by **Chaos Angel** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 12:24 am

Huh. Cool that they're cracking down on bootlegs. I wonder how the "distribution" bit would apply to us, though. Theoretically not at all, since we don't distribute whole series or movies, but it's worth pondering nonetheless.

someperson · Post by **someperson** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 12:28 am

I'm not surprised by this fact at all. Everyone is cracking down on illegal copies and what not.
This really doesn't affect me in any way, since I get all of my anime the safe legal way.

Off topic:...Interesting avatar Chaos Angel.

Wheee_It's_Me! · Post by **Wheee_It's_Me!** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 12:30 am

None of this affects me because, well, I'm a REAL data pirate. ^_^

someperson · Post by **someperson** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 12:55 am

ARRR! Data Pirate

[/img]

Arigatomina · Post by **Arigatomina** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 12:58 am

So...they're going after those groups dumb enough to sell the illegal copies at a public convention.

Are they going to get the support of other licensing companies and crack down on the internet sites selling bootlegs in very large quantities? They should. It won't be much of a stand if they just go after people doing it in person at conventions, ignoring the mainstream suppliers whose very purpose online is to distribute illegal copies of animation.

Or are the 'Intellectual Property' laws only enforcable if the seller is doing it inside a country that agrees to the laws? That wouldn't make a dent on the foreign sellers. That statement sounds like it's the beginning of an 'about time' movement, but I won't expect to see much change in the immediate future (certainly nothing so far as us - we'll get caught for distributing music sooner than we will for the anime usage).

Wheee_It's_Me! · Post by **Wheee_It's_Me!** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 1:50 am

Arigatomyna wrote:So...they're going after those groups dumb enough to sell the illegal copies at a public convention.

Selling pirated material? Who in their right mind would do that when they can have it for free? That's like trying to sell ice to eskimos. o_O

Are they going to get the support of other licensing companies and crack down on the internet sites selling bootlegs in very large quantities? They should. It won't be much of a stand if they just go after people doing it in person at conventions, ignoring the mainstream suppliers whose very purpose online is to distribute illegal copies of animation.

See above. Anyone with 30 seconds of time to devote to downloading Azureus and searching for "anime" and "bit torrents" can have pretty much anything they like for absolutely free. Somehow I seriously doubt that these online dealers are actually making any money off trying to peddle pirated material. Hell I sell "pirated" Care Bear episodes on one of my websites and I hardly get one or two orders every couple months. In fact it's such a NONconcern that Disney as well as Nelvana actually gave me PERMISSION to distribute them (as long as they aren't DVD rips).

Or are the 'Intellectual Property' laws only enforcable if the seller is doing it inside a country that agrees to the laws?

That has a lot to do with it. The Inet is a wordly entity so it's almost impossible to try and enforce any laws.

That wouldn't make a dent on the foreign sellers. That statement sounds like it's the beginning of an 'about time' movement, but I won't expect to see much change in the immediate future (certainly nothing so far as us - we'll get caught for distributing music sooner than we will for the anime usage).

Truth of the matter is that they don't really care. The MPAA and the RIAA for example are only interested in keeping music pirating and distribution out of your average, semi-computer illiterate, stupid, white, suburbanite, cracker, slobs reach. Here's a lil somethin, somethin I wrote on data pirating awhile back:
http://www.backwater-productions.net/ne ... l%2003.gif

someperson · Post by **someperson** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 2:25 am

In a nutshell kids, don't buy pirated merchandise.

HeartbreakerByZep · Post by **HeartbreakerByZep** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 12:40 pm

With all due respect, they aren't losing nearly as much money from this as they think. A lot of those people out there who buy bootlegs would simply download if bootlegs weren't an option.

I only buy legit things, but for some reason I'm not against bootlegs. I guess it's because I fear cases such as Yu-Gi-Oh where the legit products are about as worthy of buying as skin cancer is.

Trident · Post by **Trident** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 9:20 pm

Idiots who try to sell DVD rips at cons deserve a beat-down. And a con that big... seriously, people. What's next--buying "Descaflowne" DVDs from a guy in an alley also offering Bolex watches? *shrug* Hong Kong bootlegs have their purpose (as Heartbreaker pointed out)--just not in cons.