Forum - View topicNEWS: Amazon Sells Sailor Moon Bootleg as "Official Boxset"
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
R_Amythest
Posts: 32 |
|
|||
|
... Well, Amazon would stop pretty quickly if anyone cried lawsuit.
*twiddles thumbs and looks innocent* |
||||
|
||||
one3rd
 Posts: 1818 Location: アメリカ |
|
|||
Amazon DOES NOT sell bootlegs in the Marketplace because Amazon doesn't sell ANYTHING in the Marketplace. Amazon's Marketplace works much like eBay or Half.com in that anyone can sign up for an account and sell things there. You'll probably never see pirated versions of U.S. music and movies there because the RIAA and MPAA have lots of power and money to support them. The anime industry in the U.S. isn't big enough to launch massive lawsuits and the Japanese don't seem to be very aware of the problems on eBay and Amazon. |
||||
|
||||
britannicamoore
 Posts: 2618 Location: Out. |
|
|||
i too own a bootleg copy of this. If i'm stuck to bootlegs i won't pay less than $2 for a season. To see this for that price well...wow. I've never bought anything from Amazon.com...although I have to wonder why this particualr bootleg drew such intrest. I've heard in other fourms of many other bootlegs so...its puzzling. Even though its a bootleg I stil can see why its there. They don't have time to check everything. Those emails you all sent? Probably at the end of 5000 or more other complaints/ issues like this. They'll get to it eventually. If not... with all those reivews on the page anyone who tries to buy it has fair warning. |
||||
|
||||
|
doc-watson42
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 1708 |
|
|||
Not much is needed—the same set is being sold separately as "[4-DVD Box Set] Unofficial Sailor Moon Stars, Season 5".
Hmmm... Motion Picture Association of America Contact page New York (Anti-Piracy Office) One Executive Blvd. Suite 455 Yonkers, NY 10701 (914) 378-0800 (main) (914) 378-0048 (fax) From switchboard.com: Toei Animation Inc. 11150 W. Olympic Blvd # 1150 Los Angeles, CA 90064 (310) 996-2240 I've already E-mailed both Amazon and Toei about this, since it came up in the Anime on DVD Retail Forum. However, one—polite—call, fax, or letter from each person here to the MPAA might draw further attention to the problem. Any contacts to Toei should also be polite and limited to one per person. I additionally encourage the readers to rate the Amazon reviews which highlight this set as a bootleg as "helpful" (click the "Yes" buttons at the bottom of each review). Edit: Expanded post so as not to double post. Last edited by doc-watson42 on Thu May 17, 2007 5:58 pm; edited 1 time in total |
||||
|
||||
Sweetmusic_01
 Posts: 58 Location: Methuen, Ma |
|
|||
|
Has anyone thought of e-mailing Toei (and other studios) about Amazon.com selling bootlegs of their shows?
|
||||
|
||||
Kouji
 Posts: 978 |
|
|||
 But this isn't the first time I've seen Amazon sell bootlegs themselves. I saw a bootleg Rainbow Brite DVD boxset that they were selling from their site once but I don't know if it's still there or not.
|
||||
|
||||
LeoKnight25
 Posts: 319 Location: Puyallup, WA |
|
|||
|
It doesn't surprise me that Amazon is selling bootlegs. My local Suncoast took trade in for a few Hong Kong bootlegs as well...One for Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and one for Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure. I thought about informing them of it but, I thought better of it. My only concern with that is how the hell they got it through the system anyway? I mean, they have to scan the barcode on the back and at every place I've traded DVD's in, they've said if it doesn't show up in the system, they can't accept it. The store right across from Suncoast in that same mall sells NOTHING BUT Hong Kong bootlegs...they seem to get away with it fine as well.
The Sailor Moon issue with Toei pisses me off royally, as well as the Saint Seiya issue. Honestly, they are a bunch of greedy bastards...the masters ADV got for the uncut releases for Sailor Moon were trash. Sound quality was beyond garbage. I'm not sure why they wouldn't give ADV semi-decent masters or why they wouldn't allow them to remaster the sound and picture... The Saint Seiya issue pisses me off just as much. How the hell can they bank on an edited POS to carry the uncut release? Knights of the Zodiac was a bad edit on the level of Battle of the Planets or the first Sailor Moon release out here. For Toei to cancel ADV's rights for the series because KotZ failed is stupid. It was bound to fail when anime that hacked up doesn't fly on TV nowadays. The problem also seemed to be that they wanted another hit like DBZ on their hands, and that wasn't gonna happen with Saint Seiya. It's just too different...marketing it to modern kids on TV was a bad idea seeing as how the show is pretty well dated by most's standards. I'm sorry I got off topic...the mention of Toei gets me pretty pissed off. |
||||
|
||||
|
doc-watson42
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 1708 |
|
|||
ADV did not license either Sailor Moon or Saint Seiya from Toei—they sublicensed them from DiC. |
||||
|
||||
|
LeoKnight25
Posts: 319 Location: Puyallup, WA |
|
|||
They still had to get master materials from Toei I assume. I don't think DiC told ADV that they couldn't release any more Sailor Moon or Saint Seiya. Toei was the ones that had to pull the plug on it, as I don't think DiC would have that kind of power. DiC only owned the rights to the edited versions of both shows as far as I knew. I'm sure some exchange had to take place between ADV and DiC for said shows but, ultimately I'm sure ADV still had to talk to Toei about releasing uncut versions on DVD. I could be totally off though. |
||||
|
||||
|
Crawly
Posts: 204 |
|
|||
You're only off partly. ADV most likely got all of it's material from DiC, who were the primary license holder for seasons 1 and 2 in R1. Toei wouldn't give them new materials to work with for whatever reasons (remember also that no DVD release of SM existed in Japan at the time, but it was being remastered for that release). DiC had unedited video, and may or may not have had the Japanese audio depending on who you ask. That's what they made the edited version from, barring the one episode both companies were missing from season 2. Toei didn't so much "pull the plug" as they simply didn't renew the licenses with anybody after the initial 1 year extension given to DiC. Top rumor is that it was Tacheuchi, since the manga license also wasn't renewed even though there was a want for it, and rights to the franchise reverted to her around that time. ADV was never barred from remastering anything. They simply didn't have time, and put the sets out as quickly as they could after being given the green light. Unfortunately, this lack of attention shows in production and subtitle glitches in both sets. I have no idea what's going on with Saint Seiya. Perhaps it just didn't make as much money as Toei wanted for them to bother with it any longer in R1. |
||||
|
||||
|
thecactusman17
Posts: 167 |
|
|||
Apologies, I first thought it was Toei and then saw that all the others were distro'd by Geneon, and so believed that they would be the likely vector for Americn release. |
||||
|
||||
raithnor
 Posts: 22 |
|
|||
|
*sigh* That's depressing. I stopped trying to get DVDs on Ebay after my last two attemps to buy DVD resulted in bootlegs. The first I sent back, the second (from a totally different dealer) I just gave up on. Oddly enough they weren't HK/Chinese bootlegs but rather copies of the R1 release. Someone basically burned a copy to a DVD-R and silkscreened the DVD art. The cover packaging was a very good copy of the R1 release, printed on High-quality paper.
I know fansubbing is technically wrong and I try to limit myself to stuff that hasn't had a US domestic release. (Sailor Stars being a good example) Also, I generally make an honest effort to buy what I like, legally. (Just not necessarily full retail price) However I cast a pox on those who charge full retail price (or close to it) for something they essentially copied on their DVD burner. I guess the moral of the story is I'd rather be branded a thief than a chump, if I had a choice. |
||||
|
||||
|
doc-watson42
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 1708 |
|
|||
ADV released all of the Saint Seiya which DiC had licensed. I asked about it at Anime Boston's at the State of the Industry panel, and (for what it's worth, and if I recall correctly) David L. Williams stated that ADV would like to license Saint Seiya, especially to get to the newer releases, but that there is a "legal web" to deal with regarding licensing issues. As for Sailor Moon, DLW flatly stated at AB's ADV panel that Toei refuses to license it, all of which (live action, Stars, et cetera) he would love to have "the instant" Toei will let ADV. The reason(s) for Toei's refusal are, as previously implied, unknown; to the best of my knowledge we have only rumors. ANN has a video recording of the ADV panel here. |
||||
|
||||
|
Crawly
Posts: 204 |
|
|||
Geneon also said they still had some interest in it, and to be perfectly honest, I'd much rather they were the ones to get it. I just have more confidence in Geneon because I'm a biased fangirl.  Either way, though, I'd speculate the problem isn't completely with Toei since the manga license also has a lockdown on it. TokyoPop didn't willingly give that up and still wants it back. Though I'd prefer it went to Del Ray if it ever does become available again. We'd be much more likely to get that incredible new cover art if it did, since TP likes to have it's interns photoshop all their covers. And those ugly red logos that just keep getting bigger and crowding out the spine... yucky. They would so clash with the Mercury cover (and all the others except Mars).
|
||||
|
||||
GracieLizzy
 Posts: 551 Location: Sunderland, England, UK |
|
|||
|
I, too, have contacted TOEI in regards to this. I also contacted the BBC news website.... I don't think they'll really care but if there is slim chance the BBC would report on this, from a "famous retail site sells illegal DVDs" angle (which is the way I worded my e-mail) then I think Amazon might get a move on!
|
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group