Asian Film counterfeiting is rampant!

Started by dealerJason, April 22, 2005, 01:09:32 AM

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dealerJason

Rick Stelow from Drunkenmaster told me just how bad Asian film counterfeiting has become.  A month ago at Wizard World, he counted 15 dealers carrying counterfeits of Asian films.  A short conversation with a sales rep from Media Blasters confirmed what Rick had to say.  Media Blasters had to stop several dealers from selling counterfeit copies of Versus.  The worst part is that Drunkenmaster and Media Blasters are suffering because of this neglect.  Here are two companies trying to give us the Asian films we want to see and they can’t compete against those that counterfeit their legitimate product.  It has gotten to the point that Rick has thought about either carrying bootlegs himself or quitting.  When I went into Amoeba records the other day, I understood Rick’s pain.  I was astounded to find they too carried counterfeits.  Copies of Cutey Honey, Old Boy, Casshern and Azumi were all for sale and all counterfeits.  What is going on here?

Now, why am I calling them counterfeits?  Because they are not really bootlegs.  These are excellent, quality copies of DVD masters that were illegally obtained or they are copies of DVD’s with subtitles added to them..  These discs are made for less than 2 dollars a piece and then sold for upwards around 13 to 20 dollars.  Amoeba sells these titles because they claim not to know any better.  They also claim that they can’t be bootleg since they come from Hong Kong.  It is scary when an American company is so culturally blind to know that not all Asian films come from Hong Kong.

Right now, Comic Con, WonderCon, AX, and even PMX do nothing about Asian Film Counterfeits.  PMX even allows Cine-East, a big distributor of Asian Film counterfeits in Southern California (which can be verfied by looking at their website) to HOST their Asian Film track.  After checking PMX’s site for this year, Cine-East is once again organizing the Asian Film track.

Counterfeits are hard to spot.  Last year at Fanime, Anime Combo had copies of Ichii the Killer that had Capitol Records on the box.  The box looked legitimate because Capitol records is a recognized name.  You have to realize though that Capitol Records does not put out Ichii the Killer, Media Blasters does.  Easier ways to find counterfeits are if they:
 1.Are All Region and the title was only released in Japan or China.
 2.The box says region 2 or 3 but still plays on your region 1 DVD player.
 3.The copyright on the box does not refer to the company that releases
    film.

Industry must step up.  Companies like Media Blasters, Tartan Video, and Columbia need to start punishing these counterfeiters.  We all remember this happening to Anime in the 90’s and to Anime soundtracks just recently.  It was even said that Anime soundtracks would never make it in the US because of the strangle hold Son May and Everanime had on the market.  Now, both are cleaned up.  The same must happen to Asian films as well.

What can you do about it?  Simple, don’t buy these counterfeits, don’t support any store that supplies counterfeits, and certainly don’t go to a convention that allows counterfeiters to sell what ever they want.  These people are ripping off the industry, not giving one dime back to the creators, and are overcharging you, the consumer.
Jason Ebner
Fanime Staffer *retired*
I was blamed for EVERYTHING! :-)
www.asahicon.org
www.blameebner.com

G.I.R

Here's two other culprits I've run accross:
1. The Bi-monthly L.A. Comicbook/Sci-Fi convention held at the Shrine Auditorium, mere miles from Hollywood.  Not only are there bootleg Asian DVD's, I've run accross American, and European films there to (several vendors selling bad PAL transfers of Imortal here).
2. National Productions Computer Fair.  Held on a rotation scheduel iat several locations in L.A.,Santa Barbara, Orange, and San Diego Counties, are several vendors also selling bootlegs.  
At Both venues, I've recently seen Kung-fu Hustle, Beck, Tenjo Tenge, and other DVD's not only for sale, but beeing displayed on monitors on the dealer room floor!  Hell, not long after Spiderman was released in the theatres, vendors (I use the term loosely...) were selling bootleg DVD's!
And as far as Comic Con International, how can companies like Geneon, Viz, ADV Films ect. not be aware of bootlegs of their titles being sold in a dealers room that they're displaying therir wares? :?:

dealerJason

Red Sun DVD has a whole website devoted to the Piracy of Asian Films.  These guys even have this on their website:

If you represent a USA based video distributor and own the exclusive copyright to one of the films we carry, please contact us at: [email protected] or fax to: 800-454-8102 so we can immediately remove the title(s) from our web site. We will honor your request immediately as we have no wish to infringe on your copyright.

Wow!  So, if you see RED SUN on the label, YOU KNOW it is a bootleg!


Sincerely,
Jason Ebner
Dealerjason
Jason Ebner
Fanime Staffer *retired*
I was blamed for EVERYTHING! :-)
www.asahicon.org
www.blameebner.com

Vanessa

Even places like Kinokuniya is promoting the fake stuff. I wanted to buy a couple of cds, because only had enough cash on my for 3 of the 5 and both of the ladies at the register, told me to go across the parking lot to the market place and you can get all 5 cds for less that a 1/4. I bought my 3 and went into the market place and behold, a whole section devoted to bootlegs of jpop, jrock, visual kei and movies. I was shocked, but I was desperate and bought one cd from them and holy hell did the thing skip all the way home.

I learned then and there that you get what you pay for.

PeppstaR

Wow, interesting.

I bought a copy of Kung Fu Hustle at ReccaCon. I thought to myself, "Hey, this is still in the theaters" but when I looked on the back it says it's Region 3 and I figured it's an "international copy". I have an open region DVD player so I buy it.

After unwrapping the plastic, I notice that the outer cover is printed with a dull finish unlike the high gloss of originals. I figure, must be an 'artistic approach'. So I continue on and take out the case and the first thing I noticed is that the case is made of a low quality recycled thin plastic (really cheap looking). But I figure, no no, they are at ReccaCon which is Jason's Con and he won't stand for bootlegs. Then I open the case and the DVD is sitting in a cheap little plastic bag. I'm thinking.. crap. bootleg. So I examine the screen print on the DVD itself. Not bad, but then again, not good since this is supposed to be from Colombia/Sony. I pop the DVD in and begin to watch. 1/4 way in the movie starts skipping. It chunks so hard to where you can see those digital green and purple squares. Anyone who's made a "back up" :wink: of any DVD has seen these before. But I figured, maybe the DVD player is dirty. I clean it, same results. So I take out the DVD and take it to my living room where I have a brand spanking new DVD player. Same thing... and then it also hits me, isn't this DVD Region 3? This player is NOT my open region one. So I scan past the corrupted parts, enjoy the movie but it still kinda bugged me. So I examine the cover.... here's what I found:

Here's a scanned image of the DVD cover of Kung Fu Hustle that I bought.


I have numbered the errors I found, which are also tell tale signs of a bootleg besides the everything else I explained earlier.

#1 - No UPC. Why not? They don't have 'Universal Pricing Code" in Region 3 areas?

#2 - Typo - Text it cut. This is not a common mistake for originals.

This one can be somewhat dismissable, but let's continue...

#3 - Another Typo.

I thought they could've meant Sound Racks, but the double 'r' is proof that it didn't.

#4 - Typo...

Just because fine print is small and hard to read, doesn't mean no one reads it. Most bootlegs in my experiece also like to purposely mispell the word 'original', since it's not.

#5 - Fun with more typos.

Ok, some typos happen, even with originals. BUT, this is one of the companies name! At first I thought Sany? Isn't it Sony? and don't you mean PICTURES, not PCTURES... but then I look over and I see the Sony logo, so that cleared up the Sany part (never heard of Sany) but look at the Sony Logo, and this one is my favorite.

#6 - Are you ententained yet?

Sony Pictures - Home Ententainment.... OK OK, if you messed up the smaller company's name, that's fine, but Sony's! Wow, I worked for a video game company and I'll tell you, a lot of people go over the covers with a microscope before they go out. But wow, 5 typos and they misspelled on Sony's logo. If this was an original and someone messed up Sony's logo, they should be fired! and since it's in a Region 3 country, they should be caned too!
Angry Guy Art Studios
www.agartstudios.com

dealerJason

No, that was not Rick who sold you that bootleg copy of Kung Fu Hustle at RECCA Con,  it was Yes Anime who sold that to you, and I was VERY upset they brought those bootlegs to my show.

I wish Rick and Drunkenmaster were at RECCA Con, but alas, they were at Wizard World which had its own problem with Bootlegs.  If you saw Rick's booth at Fanime, you would have seen that he had ALL legitimate copies of Kung Fu Hustle.

Please make sure you are accurate with your information before you post please.  However, this goes to show you just how close you have to look to make sure you do not have a bootleg.

Sincerely,
Jason Ebner
Jason Ebner
Fanime Staffer *retired*
I was blamed for EVERYTHING! :-)
www.asahicon.org
www.blameebner.com

PeppstaR

oooh..... MANY APOLOGIES TO Drunkenmaster!!

I edited my post ASAP.

I got the 2 Dealers mixed up. I repeat.. MY FAULT. :oops:

BUT, I left up my findings to show others how far bootlegs will go.
Angry Guy Art Studios
www.agartstudios.com

topnotch97

no wonder yesanime wasn't at fanimecon.
last time i saw them was at wondercon. and yeah, they we're selling kung fu hustle which is to my surprise ALL region coding. and they were also selling Appleseed the Movie.
bottom line, they got bootlegs. asian films and anime, particularly the naruto boxsets.
Retired from Fanime.
Thinking of coming back. :D

asianfilm

Bootlegging these days is so bad that it not only hurts companies like Drunken Master, but it also puts a dent into the Asian film industry itself. When box office numbers decline as much as they have in Hong Kong and Korea, all that does is make it less possible for more films to see production. Though audiences are a large culprit in this, bootlegs are also a major contributing factor.

When going to a convention and looking for Asian films, it's a rule of mine to not buy from any dealer except Drunken Master. The chance of running into bootlegs with any other booth selling Asian films at a con is just too high.

There's a reason why the Fanime Asian Film Room works so closely with Drunken Master; with them, we know we're getting the real deal.
Brandon Tomyoy
Manager, Fanime Asian Film
Stage Zero Personality

YoureMyHiro


asianfilm

Quote from: "YoureMyHiro"Then sell it to me cheaper. :wink:

Actually, I don't really think that you can consider Drunken Master's prices expensive, especially for what you get. They had a TON of great DVDs for sale in a bin labeled as "$10 DVDS FOR SALE," and their prices are on the same scale as many other retailers, if not less.

In terms of convention dealers, there simply is no better dealer of Asian Films.
Brandon Tomyoy
Manager, Fanime Asian Film
Stage Zero Personality

G.I.R

Well today, I once again went to the bi-monthly L.A. Comic book, and Sci Fi convention, and ran across another bunch of dealers selling counterfeit DVD's.  The newest thing I saw, DVD cases sealed with the same kind of tape at the top, with a barcode, and title printed on them like the real ones you buy at any legitamit retailer.  They look convincing, until you look at the back of the case.  There you find... yup!  Fake studio logos, misspellings, and other things mentioned in posts above.  Sad thing, Drunken Master also had a booth, trying to do honest business. :(

topnotch97

I don't wanna go out of topic, since this is a Dealers Room sub-forum.
When I was browsing PMX for this year, I noticed that the Asian Film Room that they have down there will be organized by Cine-East.
I dunno couldn't help noticing it and posting it here, since we are in the discussion of bootleggers and Cine-East. That's sad.  :(
Retired from Fanime.
Thinking of coming back. :D

dealerJason

Cine-East attends AX, PMX, Comic-Con, WonderCon, Ani-Magic, A-Kon, and the monthy LA Comicbook show.  They are simply, as listed here, the most high profile Asian Film bootleg distributor in California.  There website is a testimony to this.  Both Asian Film and Anime knock offs are proudly displayed there.

The problem is that many people don't know Asian Films like we do.  They think, "Hey great deal!" not, "Is this licensed?".  Most people want to believe that a high profile movie like "Kung  Fu Hustle" will have an all region version just weeks after its domestic release.  It is simply not possible.  Unfortunately, companies like Cine-East capitalize on this lack of knowledge.

The only way we can prevent a company like Cine-East from taking advangtage of Fandom is:
1. Educate fans on what they should buy
2. Don't support shows where bootleggers do the Asian Film programming or are allowed to sell movies.
3. Get yourself a region free DVD player so that Region encoding is not an issue.

I have heard rumblings of an Anti-Bootleg website coming soon.  I hope that I am apart of it.  As a teacher, I want to educate people about this industry and to cultivate it, not destroy it.

Like my tag line says, "If you love it, then protect it"

Sincerely,
Jason Ebner
Jason Ebner
Fanime Staffer *retired*
I was blamed for EVERYTHING! :-)
www.asahicon.org
www.blameebner.com

G.I.R

Heh heh heh!  Got a funny story.
I went to AX today, and Cine-East had a booth there.  Funny part?:  they didn't bring the bootlegs!  Everything I saw was a legit import, or domestic.  Go figure... :roll:

dealerJason

I got a funnier story. Seems Cine-East was HIDING the bootlegs because AX caught them and threw them out as of today (Sunday).  Go Figure.

dealerjason
Jason Ebner
Fanime Staffer *retired*
I was blamed for EVERYTHING! :-)
www.asahicon.org
www.blameebner.com

G.I.R

:lol: Buwahahahah! :lol:   Guess you really can't get a zebra to change its stripes!  Way to go AX!

G.I.R

Well, needless to say, I'm here at SDCC, and guess who's here...
Yeah, the usual suspects.  Admittedly thou, there's less Hong Kong, and Anime bootlegs, but there is lots of stuff I know that isn't legit.  I don't know what's dumber...  The Vendors putting these counterfeit wares out in the open,  or the studios, and Home Video companies that seem to ignore this. :?

chest4091

Quote from: "dealerJason"These guys even have this on their website:.

Okay I get that but where is all of this going?

Tsukai Mori

Woah thanks dealerJason. My god you helped me out here. I ended up buying some bootlegs online which pisses me off actually, but lesson learned (that and I seem to have lost the site's name). I'll be extra careful when buying Dvd's this year...I swear. I wonder if you can boot leg a figurine...hmm. Oh God the joy of shopping is gone!