Copier on E bay.

[T50]

Ebay will take an action immediately against auctions
when contacted by the copyright holder. They will ignore
any claims made by non-copyright holder. So yes, they do care.

Yes, sellers and buyers of counterfeit products has been
and will always be there. And so is the extra markup in
the MSRPs resulting from the circulation of counterfeits.
In other words, if a guy next to you buys a counterfeit
figure, you are paying for the damage. Now it's up to you
how you deal with this situation next time you see it happens.

You can simply forget about manufacturers lowering the
MSRPs to combat counterfeits. This will never work as the
price of the counterfeit products is ridiculously lower.
All prices will steadily increase as the cost of everything else rises.

 

[renarts]

That makes more sense Mike. Being a graphic designer and screenprinter, I deal with this alot. In the past when I've used the ex parte or c&d its cost me $300 for the lawyer to John Hancock the letter. Its a great tactic when you can make it work, If the copyright is filed, you can seek damages. All works benefit from copyright, but if they are not filed the best you can do is a c&d and try to leverage something because the guy is sitting on stock or has to tell his client that he can't use the graphics, shirts, artwork, logo design etc. Getting ready to do this right now with a local beer company that swiped some artwork we did for another company and are using it on their labels. Bad form that. Fortunately I think we'll let the lawyers go to work on this one and they can seek fees via damages. Me? I'll get my blood and a check. (probably lots of beer too....)

I guess my point is that if Anders does a figure and some sewer rat in china or eastern europe knocks it off, there is little or no recourse for him because there is almost nothing that can be done. And we've all seen the same guys using different user names pop up back and forth on e-bay, sell for a few days or weeks and then get bounced, only to show up again as a new user humping the same crap.

This makes me wonder now too, do these counterfietters really effect the market all that much? If a guy is going to buy a figure at a cut rate that has been knocked off and deals with the questionable quality, would they have bought the legitimate figure in the first place? Is it really a sale lost? You certainly don't see anyone bemoaning the number of counterfeits showing up a the shows either for sale or in the exhibit hall. So how much does this effect the market?

 

[big_game_nerd]

recasters are scum

Hi, I know that this is a big problem in the Garage Kit industry with the Sci Fi/Horror/Fantasy stuff and it also looks to be a problem in the Historical field as well.

To get an auction pulled from ebay, the property owner (sculptor/producer) has some rights and we can help as well. It is somewhat of a tediuos process but does work well.

To get started here is a link
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/tp/vero-rights-owner.html

and the specifics of how to use are

For reason select “counterfeit and copyright violations”
For detailed reason select other “potential trademark infringement”
For additional information select “other replica or counterfeit items”

This is all from the Garage Kit modeling community and forums located at another forum that I am on located here http://theclubhouse1.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=64402

Hope this helps
Steve

 

[eas6644]

Best way to put these guys out of business is to not purchase from them and tell everyone we know not to buy from them.

I'm just curious. Does Andrea pay Marvel Comics for their Spiderman copy or Steven Spielberg for their Indiana Jones look alike or any of their other figures resembling film characters?

 

[Einion]

I'm just curious. Does Andrea pay Marvel Comics for their Spiderman copy or Steven Spielberg for their Indiana Jones look alike or any of their other figures resembling film characters?

No, hence the kinda-sorta names they use and the lack of studio or franchise identification.

Einion

 

[eas6644]

So isn't in a sense Andrea doing something similar by using someone else's concept/idea/copyright without their permission?

 

[FigureLover]

Hi All,

I know this has been around for a while and that counterfeiting is in just about every aspect of this hobby and other forms of entertainment, look at pirated movies, CD's, computer programs, clothing, branded jewellery ETC ETC ETC. While we all know it generally is bad for the original copywriter, sculptor and the like, and that they need to be on top of their game to try and quell the pirators selling of these goods, it is up to us to not buy these goods in the first place.

I think we all have bought pirated goods at some stage, and most know that it is never the same quality of the goods that it is copied from. Clothes are never made of the same fabric, or dont last as long, Movies are never as fine a picture as the original or the setup is different, and in our hobby, the castings are never as good. There are usually double mould lines that take three times as long to clean up, larger amount of air bubbles to fill and the detail is poorer as it is a casting of a casting after all.

I, like most of you, like to build a quality kit and then get onto painting it without too much hassle, so I would pay the extra dollars to get the original and enjoy the experience, rather than battle with an inferior copy.

Ben

 

[Einion]

So isn't in a sense Andrea doing something similar by using someone else's concept/idea/copyright without their permission?

Yes. The issue has been raised here once or twice previously; same deal with a few other firms too every now and then, e.g. the Pegaso figure taken from an Apocalyto character.

As has been mentioned a couple of times, this is a double standard - recasters are condemned (rightly so of course) but unauthorised film/cartoon/artwork reproductions usually don't raise an eyebrow.

Einion

 

[Gellso]

eBay slow to get a counterfeiter off the site?! What a shocker! Gawd they're bad, how the hell they can continue to be this slow to take action after all these years is beyond me.

Einion

True words indeed. Does anyone else think it strange that Ebay makes loads of money off these rip offs and maybe this is why they are so slow to react?

 

[renarts]

Would you kill the goose that laid the golden egg?
Part of it is the size and scope of e-bay, the other is the validity or verification of the validity of the "crime", and the money thing I'm sure plays a big part.
Either way, I still look at e-bay as a pawn shop selling stolen goods. I won't patronize them.
And we reap what we sow. We wanted stuff cheap via a global market and international access. Guess we got it. In that fast flowing stream of wealth, a few turds make it out of the septic tank.

I imagine it won't be much longer you'll start hearing vendors at shows saying its easier and more profitable to sell stuff on e-bay than to travel to shows. Its what I hear now from people in regards to brick and mortar shops. "Its easier and more accessible to get stuff on line because my LHS doesn't carry it/them/those." Or "I'll wait till it shows up on e-bay for cheaper."

 

[el cid]

Hi all, I gotta give this one a go too...cause' this stuff makes my blood boil...
A little off topic but bear with my banter....
As a former Major Label recording artist, I can fully attest to what it is like to not only feel ripped off by the multi-national recording company I was associated with, but then add further insult to see recordings passed for free on stuff like LIMEWIRE etc etc..now to the degree that we have a brand new culture of kids and adults whom have never paid for a recording! We hope that these same folks will attend a concert, gig or show, perhaps buy a T-shirt, but they can see a camera phone version on YouTube while they wait for the videogames to download! I hope that some of us continue to hound evilbay
and any other act of blatant piracy on issues such as this...scorn anyone whom supports blatant copyright infringement! To see this stuff taking place in a hobby that many of us come to as a form of relaxation, expression and even sometimes as art for sale, I know I'll continue to attend as many shows as I can afford ,will always support the vendors, & the fine folks whom post their art on forums like this one. Please continue to email, hound, write about, discuss, educate,even litigate!! This stuff is NOT OKAY !

 

[yellowcat]

Here is another recaster from Argentina.
http://cgi.ebay.com/GIANT-WOLFSKIN-...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c128c453a

 

[Kevin D.]

yup... I know that one in South America...he got me on one a few years ago... still haven't put it together or painted it.

kd

 

[Tecumsea]

Gustavo is well known and has been selling on ebay for some years. Unfortunately the kits are not cleaned of flash before recasting resulting in double seam lines and duplication of any other flaws on the original-cheap if you have hours to spend putting the thing right before setting to with the paint brush. In my opinion not worth the bother.
Keith