As scurrilous as it is, I fear it is a professional hazard of the industry. There is very little that can be done to prevent such piracy and the "world market" is too large and wide spread to police effectively enough to put a dent into it. So long as someone is looking for a deal, you'll always have a consumer market and a justification (as wrong as it is) for someone to knock off someone elses work. E-bay is not a "good business partner" when it comes to this either. They have successfully skirted legal responsibility on issues much larger than this and share no responsibility for "fencing" stolen goods. In my mind they are no different than a pawn shop that knowingly sells stolen merchandise and as a result I choose not to use them at all, no matter how good the deal. Regardless of how many legitimate business might be there.
There is also no way to really police them at shows either. There is no provenance required (or realistic) for entries so there is only assumption and the acceptance of belief or skepticism as to the veracity of the piece entered. I'd be curious to know if anyone ever spotted a pirated figure and let the show organizers know that an entrant was displaying a known counterfeit. What action was taken if so? Where lies the blame in such a case? What if the entrant was oblivious to his error? As for vendors, well... its not a very bright criminal that sells stolen goods in a venue filled with people just waiting for the opportunity to dole out vigilante style justice and jump on the table and start screaming "PIRATES!" Do you remove the vendor all together and ban him from future events or give him a warning and have him remove the offending resin and let that be a warning? Would anyone be so forgiving if I went out to their car, ripped out their stereo and brought it inside and tried to sell it back to them?
Where lies the limit of piracy? If I buy some resin or metal accessories and reproduce them for my own use, is that considered piracy or frugality? Many would argue that is fair use. I don't think the guy that is producing them for sale thinks so but I have had plenty of discussions with people that feel that its ok since they at least bought one or two from the original owner and aren't selling the copies, only usng them in their diorama or vignette. Personaly, I'd just as soon buy them from the guy in the hopes he'll make enough to stick around and I don't have to **** with the resin mess.
The one defense of piracy I can come up with is that no matter how cheap it may be its still not as good as the original which in a sense forces manufacturers to maintain higher quality standards and to continue to offer the consumer a good product for their money. Its also a price limiter in that if you go too high and the consumer can't make a logical connection to the reason for the price hike, the opportunity for algae eaters to pirate those works increases. Greed inevitably wins out and the pirates will find someone, somewhere who doesn't know better or doesn't care. If the desire is there too, someone will always come up with a justification satisfactory to ease their conscience and buy the knock off.
They are there, like flies around pooh, looking for their piece. Its a fact of life in the hobby/industry and I don't think there is any real mechanism to combat it other than personal conscience and influence over friends and colleagues.
