a message from Roger Saunders (Hornet)

[Johan]

Dear fellow members, in response to the outright act of piracy of the Chinese company Miniatures Hobby, Roger Saunders asked me to post a message : here goes :

Fake Hornet heads

At least one company in China is now mass producing ‘1/35 heads’ and offering them for sale over the internet.

The pictures used are of genuine Hornet heads downloaded from my own site, but the products can only be illegal copies

Hornet does not license reproduction by anyone else.

Copying is a huge and widespread problem that is gradually throttling honest manufacturers, and if their quantities are as stated this one company alone has more stock per item available for sale than I do myself!

Copying on this scale means that the heads have to be remoulded at least twice. Each time an item is remoulded it becomes smaller, distorts slightly and loses detail. A pirated head on a figure tends to look like a pea on a pylon.

Human nature being what it is, some people will find and buy these knock-offs anyway. Eventually complaints will appear on forums that an alleged ‘Hornet head’ is below par and I get hit a second time because it will be said (unfairly) that my standards are slipping.

In your own interest, and mine, please specify only genuine products. And give lots of negative feedback if your purchase turns out not to be!

Roger Saunders (sculptor and owner of Hornet models)

www.hornetandwolf.com


Please pass on this message as widely as possible!

 

[Nap]

Hi Johan ,

Piracy from China is rife it would seem in all aspects of our world , but how do you stop it , by not even entertaining buying is the only answer ..buy originals and we will all have the top quality that guys like Roger strive for .

This has been raised before and I am sure it won't be the last ..its always the genuine guys that suffer .


Thanks to you and to Roger for raising this issue

Nap

 

[btavis]

Russia also is notorious for pirating software (not sure about figures). I develop software for musical synthesizers and a recently released product was available on a Russian pirate site the day it came out. These countries are rogue and there is virtually no way to stop them except appealing to users not to buy from them.

Users need to understand that supporting pirates is counterproductive as it can adversely impact the original manufacturers ability to produce. And this affects all manufacturers large or small. It is just that the small ones have little flexibility in enduring this kind of blatant theft.