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Tempest wrote:

The issue of Anime Castle's Hong Kong DVD section was pointed out a long time ago, and I brought it up with Anime Castle when it came time to renew their contract earlier this year.

Well as a new forum poster I was not really aware about it being brought up a long time ago. I never questioned it to you (I presume this is Chris) or Isaac when I discussed advertising on ANN over a year ago. I had wondered though if ANN was weak on enforcing the rules of the contract we sponsors signed due to the fact that AC seemed not to comply with them.

Quote:

Anime Castle's has been sponsoring ANN from the very start, they were in fact the first company to sponsor ANN after we started looking for sponsors. So you can understand that, although I refuse new sponsors that carry anything questionable, the idea of dropping AC was very disconcerting to me. Although ANN has a firm policy on the issue, I also have a firm belief that it is improper to abandon people who have been helping you out from the start.

I now understand why you would not want to drop AC and reading your explanation I can see why there is a double standard with regards to them.

However I do feel that making them immune to the rules may cause other problems with other sponsors. I had this situation with a certain convention when they failed to enforce their bootleg policy and no vendor respected the contract afterwards.

Quote:

Fortunately, Anime Castle told me that they have no intention to continue their HK DVD section. I was told that they had no plans to purchase more HK DVDs and that as soon as they sold off their existing merchandise they would clsoe the section. Since then I've been carefully watching their HK section and they have not added any new titles.

AC should very well appreciate your patience with them. Bandai it seems would not be so merciful to allow the vendors served to permit them to sell their bootleg inventory.

Quote:

So yes, I have made an exception for AC, as long as I continue to believe that AC is honest in wanting to shut down that section, I will continue to accept their sponsorship. Should I ever have reason to believe that they lied to me, I will, very regretably, stop running their banners.

-t

I pray your faith in them is rewarded.

One must wonder why they cannot simply take the boots they are selling off of the their online store, and just sell them in their B&M one. At least then they could be within the rules by that they are not selling boots through any link that ANN has to them. Maybe nobody in NYC is buying them or something.

Well, in any case, I won't presume to tell you how to run the site Tempest, but I also hope they clean up their act.

JETBLACK87 wrote:

I think they should start doing stuff about Ebay. Those are where the bootleggers are doing the most damage.

EBay's a very tpugh nut to crack. There's thousands of bootlegs on E-Bay, but all from different people, and it takes minutes for someone new to set up...

It's just not feasible for the industry to really do something.

The best they could do is watch e-bay, and send e-bay the appropriate documents every single time a bootleg appears and have that sale stopped.

Excellent point. Since Bandai has requested to be informed of anything then reporting auctions to them is something that has to be done.

I agree that the Ebay issue is an uphill battle. Heck... the film studios and software companies have a difficult time with Ebay. However while difficult it is not impossible. Discussing this with other fans the question was asked why Bandai did this now. I know that a few years ago Jerry cracked down on bootleg models at the San Diego Comic Con. AX was the perfect place to crack down on all the vendors and while Bandai has been aggressive in protecting their interests with toys and models they now seem to have moved on to DVD. It may be a matter of time before they turn their eyes on ebay auctions next. Time will tell.

All I can say is FINALLY!!. I've been sending emails to Bandai (among many others) for over a year about sites (and retailers or both) selling HK DVDs and the like in the US. They've typically ignored me, or sent me around in circles to get rid of me. Several monthes ago I gave up on the anime industry, assuming they aparently want the massive piracy.

Now with these lawsuits (and ever more clear by them posting their email address) they are finally serious about this. This really makes my day. Maybe others like ADV will follow. I guess I'l try to get back in touch with them again. I have a list of over 40 sites and store chains selling HK DVDs (among other illegal repros) that I'l submit tonight. Very Happy

Wow, Hong Kong bootlegs with English dubs. Talk about boneheaded. Anime smallmouth

It's very interesting how the press release keeps discussing DVDs, CDs, and merchandise. There's no mention of sharing over the internet or older media like tapes.

Also, I don't suppose the person who posted the AC link could retag it as a shorter link like that? It stretches the first page of posts. Anime smallmouth + sweatdrop

Edit: Oh, and as for ADV, they shut down a BitTorrent site notorious for hosting torrents of ADV dubs. Not much, but it's a start eh?

I went to Anime Expo and pass through tables of retailers selling bootleg merchandise. The one's Bandai listed on their site are not the only one's that sold bootleg dvds. They are the one's that were unlucky.

It's amazing how stupid these retailers are selling bootleg DVDs at AX when the companies who own the rights are also there promoting their titles.

As for AC, being in the business that long, it is quite surprising they would carry bootleg DVDs. It will take them a long time to sell the bootlegs they currently have posted (now that many anime consumers know) I suggestthey should take a loss and remove it quickly. For one, Bandai will slap them with a lawsuit. (especially when they see Gundam Seed selling for under $10. and its not even released on DVD yet) And they should remove it just for plain ethics and morality.

I agree with "Abel" making AC immune to the no bootleg rule will cause problems for other sponsers. For instance "Anime Network," owned by A.D. Vision. Anime Castle sells and carries ADV bootleg DVDs. When ADV joins Bandai in cracking down on bootleg DVD, I am sure AC will be served, and a stituation like that will be messy. One sponsor infringing on another sponsor's rights.

tiredgamer wrote:

Edit: Oh, and as for ADV, they shut down a BitTorrent site notorious for hosting torrents of ADV dubs. Not much, but it's a start eh?

Actually they sent a letter to the host, not the site. The host then took down the site to avoid legal action. This doesn't do much though, because the site can find (or if your talking about the same site I am, has found) a new host. Now all they have to do is not allow ADV's releases to be tracked on the site, and they will have no problems unless another company sends a similar letter, and the host company kicks the site again.

tiredgamer wrote:

Also, I don't suppose the person who posted the AC link could retag it as a shorter link like that? It stretches the first page of posts. Anime smallmouth + sweatdrop

I had posted the entire url in the format to emphasize the domain it was on. I don't make it a habit to normally do that. I will retag it though. Wink

Well I say good for bandai for doing this. The more companies think twice about copying the better it will be. The companies in question on the press release are all U.S companies that import that bootleg copies from HK right? Well Manga international or anime cartoon is one of the biggest in my eyes, but isn't there anything to do about the source of the problem? They distribute to all these companyies worldwide. Is the fact they can't do anything because there bases in TW, or HK. The email address on most of there discs have a TW domain. Doesn't bandai have offices in U.S, and in Japan so they should be able to do something. Well I suppose they wouldn't be able to do anything if its all underground. I mean there not like they have a building that says "manga international" and they don't frequently advertise there bootleg copies. But they do have a web site. Anime Cartoon Can't they shut them down by someone track where its hosted, and so on. Maybe this is all wishful thinking this is possible, but I'm just wondering.

aoi777 wrote:

But they do have a web site. Anime Cartoon Can't they shut them down by someone track where its hosted, and so on. Maybe this is all wishful thinking this is possible, but I'm just wondering.

This is from a who-is search on anime-cartoon.com

"Domain Name.......... anime-cartoon.com
Creation Date........ 2001-10-19
Registration Date.... 2001-10-19
Expiry Date.......... 2004-10-19
Organisation Name.... Anime Cartoon
Organisation Address. Robinson Road Post Office P.O. Box 804
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. Singapore
Organisation Address. 901604
Organisation Address. SG
Organisation Address. SINGAPORE

Admin Name........... Eric Lim
Admin Address........ Robinson Road Post Office P.O. Box 804
Admin Address........
Admin Address........ Singapore
Admin Address........ 901604
Admin Address........ SG
Admin Address........ SINGAPORE
Admin Email.......... [email protected]
Admin Phone.......... 8233692
Admin Fax............

Tech Name............ YahooDomains Techcontact
Tech Address......... 701 First Ave.
Tech Address.........
Tech Address......... Sunnyvale
Tech Address......... 94089
Tech Address......... CA
Tech Address......... UNITED STATES
Tech Email........... [email protected]
Tech Phone........... 1-619-881-3096
Tech Fax.............
Name Server.......... NS.americahosting.net
Name Server.......... NS2.americahosting.net"

So it appears to be in Singapore.

Hey,

Good Idea. My finds from visial route.

Location:
Location = (Singapore)
lat/lon = 1.16n, 103.51e
source = NET whois.apnic.net
type = guess
place-key = sg [capital city]
geo-key = sg-singapore -> .\data\geo.vdb

Network:
inetnum: 203.126.35.128 - 203.126.35.191
netname: CYCLE-SG
descr: Cycle & Carriage Industries (1988) Pte Ltd
descr: 239 Alexandra Road
descr: Singapore 20020826
country: SG
admin-c: PL144-AP
tech-c: SH9-AP
rev-srv: dnssec1.singnet.com.sg
rev-srv: dnssec2.singnet.com.sg
rev-srv: dnssec3.singnet.com.sg
notify: [email protected]
mnt-by: MAINT-SG-SINGNET
changed: [email protected] 20001105
status: ASSIGNED NON-PORTABLE
source: APNIC
changed: [email protected] 20020827

Host:simei.singnet.com.sg

Your right its from singapore

Hmm, this is all and good, but Amazon sells bootlegs in their used section. It's like false advertising. I am still unable to find the Cowboy Bebop boxset as they have the exclusive. It's like they don't sell it. x_x I wanna buy it!

This isn't meant to be too self-promotional, but my most recent PopMatters column (which was published yesterday and was written a couple of weeks ago) deals with the subject of bootlegs:
http://www.popmatters.com/columns/ruh/040707.shtml
In it I also link back to the earlier ANN discussion of the bootleg DVDs that appeared a UT profile of Prof. Napier.

I have to say that it's about time that Bandai begins to stick up for itself in this way.

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