Asian Film counterfeiting is rampant!

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

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Tsubasa

Excuse me as I go off on a slightly related tangent:

Quote from: "Tsukai Mori"I wonder if you can boot leg a figurine...hmm.
Yes, and it does happen.  As a general rule, look for poor paint jobs and rough spots-maybe even some traces of flash.  Most PVCs/coldcasts/etc. come in boxes, so use that to your advantage and look for the tell-tale signs of counterfeit wares: poor printing, bad stock, incorrect company, etc.  The thing that'll get you further than anything else though is probably getting familiar with the legitimate product or similar products by the same company.
-Tsubasa

Member of the SPCPWRFLDTDPR

yOna

The CD store in Japantown sells bootlegs. (Dunno the name, but it's next to the Hello Kitty store) >_< Of all places!!! I felt so disturbed for them to promote bootlegs. I stopped going there  :evil:

YesAnime has always been bad. I know too many people who got ripped off there  :(
Christine L.
FanimeCon Registration Staff

frumpy

Quote from: "yOna"The CD store in Japantown sells bootlegs. (Dunno the name, but it's next to the Hello Kitty store) >_< Of all places!!! I felt so disturbed for them to promote bootlegs. I stopped going there  :evil:

YesAnime has always been bad. I know too many people who got ripped off there  :(

Mikado has some bootlegs, but MOST of their stuff is legit imports.
Camilla Wong
Dealers Dept '07-'12, 2014-current
Charity Auction '04, '09-'12
Video Programming '00-'04
Gopher Volunteer '98-'99

yOna

Quote from: "frumpy"
Quote from: "yOna"The CD store in Japantown sells bootlegs. (Dunno the name, but it's next to the Hello Kitty store) >_< Of all places!!! I felt so disturbed for them to promote bootlegs. I stopped going there  :evil:

YesAnime has always been bad. I know too many people who got ripped off there  :(

Mikado has some bootlegs, but MOST of their stuff is legit imports.

yea no worries i saw a lot of legits, just it was the last place i'd think there would be bootlegs =\. meh oh well....yesasia for me ^^;;
Christine L.
FanimeCon Registration Staff

sykoeent

Quote from: "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.
ACtually, most of those cons selling counterfeits don't know there are booths selling the stuff. You need to be vocal about it and tell the staffers what's going on. When they get caught by a staffer, you'll see the cops come in and all hell breaks loose at that booth. I personally saw it happen at San Diego ComicCon. They also have staffers taking pics of the booth and the people at the booth... I don't know why.
CompUSA in the Puente Hills mall was playing Final Fantasy Advent Children last weekend on their big screen tv. Apparently one of the staffers put it on the tv. When I told them that they were showing a bootlegged copy, they really didn't know. They had to turn it off. If someone had come in and known about this and called SquareEnix... that store would be fined and closed down. Sooooo... direct staffers to the bootlegs/counterfeits and get the business cards and whatever else you can and report them. Otherwise, destroy their booth and steal their merch. Cos what can they do? Report you? "Hi... Police? Yeah my counterfeit DVD's were stolen..." Not going to happen. Be aggressive and fight these people, otherwise you will lose in the end.

G.I.R

Quote from: "sykoeent"...Otherwise, destroy their booth and steal their merch. Cos what can they do? Report you? "Hi... Police? Yeah my counterfeit DVD's were stolen..." Not going to happen. Be aggressive and fight these people, otherwise you will lose in the end.

Ooh, bad idea.  You will most likely end up being hauled in with the vendor for disturbing the peace and more.  Don't fight crime with crime.

What we really need here is a list of contacts to report these people, heather they are distributers, or law enforcement in the cities mentioned in the above posts, and the proper way to report these people.

sykoeent

Quote from: "G.I.R"
Quote from: "sykoeent"...Otherwise, destroy their booth and steal their merch. Cos what can they do? Report you? "Hi... Police? Yeah my counterfeit DVD's were stolen..." Not going to happen. Be aggressive and fight these people, otherwise you will lose in the end.

Ooh, bad idea.  You will most likely end up being hauled in with the vendor for disturbing the peace and more.  Don't fight crime with crime.

What we really need here is a list of contacts to report these people, heather they are distributers, or law enforcement in the cities mentioned in the above posts, and the proper way to report these people.
Yeah, just being over dramatic... but maybe inviting representatives of the movie's distribution team? Then they can witness first hand at who is selling counterfeit and well... give the sueing papers direct to the dealer.

Cowpunk

Folks:

FYI I have started a webpage listing email address at companies for reporting sellers of bootleg material.

http://www.koyagi.com/pirates.html

It is still in a very early stage but I hope to go public with it by Famine 2006.

It will also eventually include a page on how to tell the difference between pirated DVD discs and legitimate imported discs.
Gilles Poitras
Occupation: Librarian
Obsession: Anime

lobohan

Has anyone heard if KungFuDVD.com carrys bootlegs? I'm having a booth at Fanime this year and haven't used them as a distributor before. I'd like to hear the skinny before I sign up with them.

Thanks a bunch.
Stupid people have the advantage of numbers. We need superior tactics.

Cowpunk

Quote from: "lobohan"Has anyone heard if KungFuDVD.com carrys bootlegs?

It looks like it.

They have Shogun Assassin right up front, the first legit license for DVD was signed by AnimEigo recently. They also have several Lone Wolf and Cub boots.

I'll drop AnimEigo a note on this.
Gilles Poitras
Occupation: Librarian
Obsession: Anime

Eri Kagami

If Media Blasters and other companies hit San Francisco's Chinatown, that would be one great raid. Unfortunately, many of the Hong Kong (and anime) movies they sell are counterfeit. It's really sad. Though there was this boxset of Kung Fu Hustle which included the handprint and martial arts training booklets (just like in the movie). Maybe that was legit, but I'm rather iffy about spending money to a place that sells boots.

Cowpunk

Quote from: "White Rose Assassin"If Media Blasters and other companies hit San Francisco's Chinatown, that would be one great raid.
You could always ask the shop owners for their business cards, note some specific titles and then contact the companies.

One of the hard things about buying Hong Kong imports is knowing which companies are legit. As part of the, all too slowly developing, page I'm putting together there will be lists of legit and boot companies, hopefully with logos.

Tip: If a store is selling booleg Ghibli titles report them to Disney Copyright Enforcement, they have the buck to go after them. How do you know it is a boot? If it is region free.

Email address available at:
http://www.koyagi.com/pirates.html
Gilles Poitras
Occupation: Librarian
Obsession: Anime

asianfilm

Quote from: "White Rose Assassin"If Media Blasters and other companies hit San Francisco's Chinatown, that would be one great raid. Unfortunately, many of the Hong Kong (and anime) movies they sell are counterfeit. It's really sad. Though there was this boxset of Kung Fu Hustle which included the handprint and martial arts training booklets (just like in the movie). Maybe that was legit, but I'm rather iffy about spending money to a place that sells boots.

I scour Chinatown for DVDs all the time, and those Asian film releases they have are mostly legit. Places like Sun, QQ, Asia-Star, and the place next to Golden Gate Bakery (I keep forgetting its name) all sell legit Hong Kong releases, be it of Hong Kong films, Japanese films, Korean films, or what have you.

As for the handprint boxset of Kung Fu Hustle, this is absolutely legit and is an ultra-rare special edition that was released when the film made it to DVD in Hong Kong.

When it comes to Anime, it's a little tougher to discern this because in Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan, there really are no companies that release Anime like it's released over in the United States, and what may seem to be a bootleg over here to the common American anime fan is actually the only real copy you'll find of a movie, OVA, or series over there in Asia.

You can usually tell which copies are the R3 copies because they usually have at least two audio tracks, if not three. They are usually Japanese/Cantonese, Japanese/Mandarin, or all three. They usually also include English, Chinese (Simp.), and Chinese (Trad.) subtitle tracks.

The real problem isn't that these are "bootlegs," because to an Anime fan in Hong Kong or Taiwan, they're plenty real to them. I mean, it's all they've got. The problem is that these copies are not region-encoded, and the English track makes it possible for American Anime fans to purchase them. The fact that they are usually cheaper and sold in bundles really doesn't help American Distributors.
Brandon Tomyoy
Manager, Fanime Asian Film
Stage Zero Personality

Cowpunk

Quote from: "asianfilm"
The real problem isn't that these are "bootlegs," because to an Anime fan in Hong Kong or Taiwan, they're plenty real to them. I mean, it's all they've got. The problem is that these copies are not region-encoded, and the English track makes it possible for American Anime fans to purchase them.
Actually almost all legit anime from Hong Kong is region encoded for R3. There are very very few exceptions to this.

For a good guide to spoting bootleg anime see:
http://www.digital.anime.org.uk/piratefaq.html

That said the shops in San Francisco's Chinatown are doing a better job of stocking legit live action Hong Kong films. I've been able to pick up titles I wanted for years but could only find boots in the past.
Gilles Poitras
Occupation: Librarian
Obsession: Anime

slifertheskydragon

SacAnime had one dealer with nothing but counterfeit DVDs.

Barnes

Quote from: "slifertheskydragon"SacAnime had one dealer with nothing but counterfeit DVDs.

Would you mind explaining the details of what you know?
Also a Proud Fanime Con Attendee since 1998!
Yay, Haruko.
http://myanimelist.net/profile/CapeBarnes