Why is E-Bay allowing so many bootleg copies of Scarface for sale? (1 Viewer)

[Malcolm R]

And whose word are they to take for it? The seller or the one reporting it?

Well, if they were to hire some knowledgeable staff, like a few of us, it wouldn't be difficult to spot and stop them at all. We don't seem to have any problem picking out the bootlegs, why does Ebay?

And to use HTF as a model, a handful of administrators "process" several thousand posts a day to enforce rules and ettiquette. Why can't Ebay hire a handful of knowledgeable people to "process" their auctions?

As Eugene said, it's in Ebay's interest to leave all the bootlegs on there as they get their fees for every auction regardless of if the merchandise is illegal or not.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Like Jeff, I've reported numerous bootlegs and Ebay does nothing.

Make sure you report them to the MPAA as well. I got a guy who was insisting he was selling "Pre-release" DVDs zapped but good
We had a big battle over email. I then looked at the buisness license he so kindly posted to prove his legitimacy, and gave his website, name, address and phone number to the MPAA
I managed to convince him he was selling illegal merchandise I think, because he started putting up all kinds of disclaimers about how he was only "selling the information on where to buy them"
Somebody was TOAST 2 weeks later
Bwahahhahahahaahahahh. I keep meaning to call him up just to laugh (from a payphone), if his ass isn't in prison I reported him to his local Chamber of Commerce too, maybe they revoked said business license as he was also selling all kinds of MLM type scams

 

[Tony-B]

Ebay just acts as a middle man. They are only providing the listings. It is not their responsibility to police the items that are sold on the site. They also do not have the time to check every item, because there are so many being sold. I think that they could do a better job policing the sellers who are selling obvious bootlegs, like Star Wars and Indiana Jones.
Doing a search on "Indiana Jones" on Ebay, and going to DVD, reveals 31 matches, which are most likely bootlegs. I also a did an estimate of the amount of Star Wars bootlegs that are on Ebay right now. I came up with about 100 matches (not including TPM and AOTC). Most were auctions for the whole trilogy.
The funniest auction I found was an auction that is for "Website that sells the Star Wars DVD Trilogy". It truly amazes me that people have put a bid on it.
If Ebay just does a little work, they can prevent a lot of bootlegs from entering their site.

 

[Brian E]

And to use HTF as a model, a handful of administrators "process" several thousand posts a day to enforce rules and ettiquette. Why can't Ebay hire a handful of knowledgeable people to "process" their auctions?

Whay can't the studios or the MPAA hire someone to keep an eye on it? Why is it eBay's responsibility?

I agree bootlegs are bad. I've also reported numerous bootlegs to eBay, but I also report it to the copyright holder as well. The only ones I've had any feedback from as far as doing something were ADV and AnimEigo. Those auctions were pulled, because the US rights holder complained. On the other hand it's sometimes even tricky for them to get things pulled, because they have to be sure it's not a legit release from another country.

 

[Damin J Toell]

Why is it more eBay's responsibility than it is the studio that owns the property?

EBay has the fiduciary resposibility to its shareholders, should they like to continue functioning for a profit, to make sure that they are not vicarious or contributory copyright infringers and thus face lawsuits.

DJ

 

[Runar_R]

While I'm sure that there is a fair amount of asian bootlegs available on ebay, I don't think the fact that it is DTS while the US version is non-DTS is a good enough reason to suspect it to be a bootleg. DTS has for some reason become quite popular on HK-discs. Titles like 'Texas Rangers', 'O', 'Insomnia', 'We were soldiers' and 'Gosford Park' to mention a few all have DTS-tracks while the US versions don't.
On the other hand it seems like fewer legit titles are released as Region 0, most are Region 3.
(Take a look around at this webshop)
P.S
Never seen a DTS Scarface though......

 

[Malcolm R]

Why is it more eBay's responsibility than it is the studio that owns the property?

Because Ebay is providing the means for lawbreakers to more easily profit from illegal activities, and making a profit for their own company on each illegal bootleg sold as well. Seems to me that profiting from the illegal activities of others must be breaking a law of some kind.
Not to mention it's just the stand-up thing to do, you know, taking personal responsibility for the operation of your own company. But I realize that's a concept that's gone extinct in today's society (see Adelphia, Enron, Worldcom, et. al.). :rolleyes

 

[Ralph Bru]

.......

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

There is a pirated DVD manufacturer in Asia that markets its DVDs under the 'DTS' brand name, this 'Scarface DVD' must be one of those.

Sanjay

 

[Jeff Kleist]

No, it's not

DTS is very en vogue in Asia. Most of these places just rip the DD track and re-encode to DTS so their title has a "DTS" track. This is done even with legit releases (Battle Royale in HK)

 

[Brajesh Upadhyay]

I've bought many DVDs off eBay over the last few years & never gotten any bootlegs, until now. I bought three DVDs from two different sellers. I got them yesterday & all three are bootlegs with fake THX logos, packaging & spelling/grammatical errors everywhere. I left neutral feedback (since service was good) for the users saying their DVDs were bootlegs, but they in turn left me negative feedback adamantly stating they were originals. I know they are definitely bootlegs. No more DVDs off eBay for me.

 

[Craig_T]

I've bought many DVDs off eBay over the last few years & never gotten any bootlegs, until now. I bought three DVDs from two different sellers. I got them yesterday & all three are bootlegs with fake THX logos, packaging & spelling/grammatical errors everywhere. I left neutral feedback (since service was good) for the users saying their DVDs were bootlegs, but they in turn left me negative feedback adamantly stating they were originals. I know they are definitely bootlegs. No more DVDs off eBay for me.

You're far kinder than I would've been. I'd have given them harsh negative feedback ratings even if they hand delived them to my house overnight. And if I actually tried to pass off bootleg junk as originals, I'd expect the same negative feedback in return.

 

[Damin J Toell]

Because Ebay is providing the means for lawbreakers to more easily profit from illegal activities, and making a profit for their own company on each illegal bootleg sold as well. Seems to me that profiting from the illegal activities of others must be breaking a law of some kind.

It is: it's vicarious copyright infringement. Even without knowledge of the infringing activity, it is copyright infringement so long as eBay has the right and ability to supervise the infringing conduct (which they do) and they have an obvious and direct financial interest in the exploitation of copyrighted materials (which they also do). EBay could also be liable for contributory copyright infringement if they knowingly aid sellers to sell bootlegs.

DJ

 

[Brian E]

Speaking of bootlegs. I noticed Amazon has some sellers offering bootlegs as part of thier buy it used feature now.

Jeff, do you know who to contact at Bandai about this? I had a name & email, but can't find it.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

I can't give out the email publically. Report it on the AnimeonDVD Studio Feedback Forum. They WILL see it, or email me the link privately and I will forward it

 

[Todd Terwilliger]

The only reason Ebay doesn't police these things is because they don't want to. Many of the bootleg sellers are power sellers and thus are big money-makers for Ebay. Because nobody with enough weight has come down on them to stop it, they're not going to. Let's not pretend, however, that because Ebay is only the "middle-man" they have no responsibility. Ebay is no better than a fence.

 

[Brian E]

Ok Todd, you go look there and tell me for absolute certain which discs are bootlegs and which aren't. Of course Star Wars and Indy are easy to find and I'm pretty sure that if Lucas Film raised a stink those would all be gone real fast. It's not as easy as some of you would like to make it sound.

 

[Damin J Toell]

Ok Todd, you go look there and tell me for absolute certain which discs are bootlegs and which aren't. Of course Star Wars and Indy are easy to find and I'm pretty sure that if Lucas Film raised a stink those would all be gone real fast. It's not as easy as some of you would like to make it sound.

But do they even try? I think that's the problem people are addressing here. No one's asking for perfection, just a good faith attempt to minimize the situation as much as possible.

DJ

 

[Todd Terwilliger]

Brian,

Why should Lucasfilm have to make a stink? If it's so obvious that they're bootlegs, why doesn't Ebay do anything about them?

If Ebay invested just a bit of time, they could easily crack down on atleast the most bold offenders.

Also, a little bit of education goes a long way. A small amount of research will uncover 99% of the bootlegs out there. Ebay could easily put a couple of guys on bootleg police and minimize the problem. As said above, they could try.

 

[Brian E]

Ebay could easily put a couple of guys on bootleg police and minimize the problem.

Guess we differ in opinion. I don't know that it would be that easy. A couple of guys? No, try a whole new department. There are far to many auctions posted on eBay each day for a couple of guys to handle and in order for it to work they'd need to be checked with a day of posting due to the length of some auctions.