Forum - View topicNEWS: Funimation Sues Animeland Staff Over Counterfeit Items
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ActionJacksin
 Posts: 112 |
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Actually, I think that was the one where Toei intentionally gave them un-restored film, as it was coinciding with their own R2 remastered release. |
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sepherest
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I think it's good to go after people or companies that produce counterfeit products without permission or license to do so.
It's pretty nice that in Japan they're very uptight about this kind of thing. Though at the same time I don't think there's much merchandise worth buying when it comes to the western side of things, including what Funimation offers. But maybe if these fake distributors get cut down the official ones may become more interested in releasing better products. I kind of doubt that though 
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beelzebozo
 Posts: 308 Location: Aurora, Colorado |
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Actually there is one hotel left that could hold NDK and that's the Sheraton Downtown (formerly the Adam's Mark). But NDK has been loathe to move downtown at all because prices will increase and there is no guarantee they will have the hotel to themselves. But it is the only other option unless the new Gaylord hotel in Aurora goes through. Neither here nor there because NDK is locked in contract with the Marriott for at least 1 more year, if not 2. But given the success of Denver Comic Con, I think some conventions are going to look to downtown more. Back to Animeland, I've attended Wasabi, as well as their events in Las Vegas and Albuquerque. They were always slap-dash events. The organization was horrible, the staffing & security was barely existent. Scheduling was laughable ("We open at Noon! No, 2pm! No, Noon!") The only thing that seemed to hold them together was local staff, which is probably why Wasabi was their largest and best run event. A mixture of NDK staffers and local people who "wanted to take NDK down" made for an interesting time. 
We'd made the decision earlier that Wasabi would be the only Animeland event we'd go to because it was local. And before the end of this last convention, we decided this would be our last one, given how much worse it was from last year. Now it looks like it might be taken out of our hands completely and, I have to say, I'm almost glad I was there. I'm more interested, though, it how much of a precedent this will set. Some companies went after the vendors themselves, but some of the more infamous bootleggers turned out to be slippery fishes, having 2 or more business names to avoid bans. If the conventions know that they could be sued for not cracking down on bootlegs, this could be a very interesting change in the industry. But I do think that Funimation should step up and help with bootleg identification. Send out info packs and videos and whatnot to help those conventions that never really paid attention before to get up-to-date. |
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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I instinctively stop listening/reading whenever anyone uses the term "sheep" to refer to anything but providers of wool.
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Lady Multi
Posts: 675 |
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I go to Anime Weekend Atlanta and there is a dealer that goes there that has been there for the past few years and I have him on mental note to avoid his place. I don't remember his store's name but he was selling counterfeit stuff....
There was a figure that I wanted, asked if he had the box, he said no. I asked to look at it and did, and it didn't have any "made in" stamps and the color was slightly off. When I confronted him about it, he simply turned away and pretended I didn't exist. It's annoying that bootleg and counterfeits exist... Vigilance is the key for collectors. Glad to see that Funi is confronting the counterfeit items. |
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Cutiebunny
 Posts: 1748 |
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This thread just keeps getting better. Now you have representatives from NDK and possibly Wasabi arguing?! Spectacular.
You only have to visit Toei Studios in Japan to understand how much Toei loathes the Sailor Moon property. Yes, it's a money maker for them. Yes, they're going to revive it solely for the money. But whereas Dragonball, the PreCure franchise and One Piece have their merchandise prominently displayed and cataloged, Sailor Moon is given one small, dinky glass shelf. Under a very sunny window. When I visited the museum in 2008, the Sailor Moon items Toei had on hand had been badly damaged. I don't know if anything has changed since then, but, I was practically in tears after going there. Not only was Sailor Moon simply tossed aside, the way they treat their artwork there was horrible. There's a room where they have discarded cel animation equipment with a huge bunch of Dr. Slump cels laying in a damp room. And then there's the decorations that the studio made to highlight prior productions - Made from cut outs from production cels. Try rationalizing this to someone who not only collects cels, but spends money trying to preserve them. |
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Jinnie
Posts: 6 |
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Nah, I'm not here to have a fist fight. Just couldn't let that hilarious piece of libel go unanswered. |
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beelzebozo
Posts: 308 Location: Aurora, Colorado |
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If "EVO Anime" and "Anime on Mississippi" were the problem, why where they still at the convention all the way through? Why were they not kicked out well in advance? I also don't remember EVO being at last year's convention and I know that Anime on Mississippi definitely was not, and there were other bootlegs sold as well, so this is not just the first time it happened.
Let's also not forget, Timmons himself is a copyright violator with his stickers, which I've seen at more than just Animeland events. Oh, and you don't seem to understand: Think Art owns Animeland. When you make a check out to Animeland, you have to make it out to Think Art Media. Think Art Media goes, so does Animeland. Though to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if it resurrects as something else. Happened before back when it was simply Anime Wasabi and the con operator got busted for sex with a minor. |
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Sheleigha
 Posts: 1673 |
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Geeze that's just depressing... The actual company not even trying to preserve their own works?? ...dare I even ask how they treated another one of my beloved properties of theirs, Digimon? |
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Tempest
 I Run this place.ANN Publisher  Posts: 10421 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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Although his post was deleted because it was full of expletives, and libellous comments about other conventions, I'm going to reply to some of "The Atomic Truth"'s comments.
1 - AnimeLand isn't being sued, Think Art Media is. According to the filed lawsuit, THINK ARTS MEDIA d/b/a ANIMELAND is being sued. This means that the two are 1 and the same. If there is another legal entity named Animeland, then that entity isn't being sued, but we have been given no reason to believe this is the case. There are also 10 unnamed "does" in the lawsuit, all of which I would assume are people. In total, 11 people and one company are being sued. 2 - [ANN] went ahead and posted the article without explaining anything in greater detail. "The AtomicTruth doesn't seem to understand the difference between news journalism and editorial. We presented the facts, and the statements given to us, that's our duty and the entirety of our duty when it comes to the news. Providing insight would be an issue for a possible other article, one we would need to consult with a lawyer first. Quite honestly, a small lawsuit between Funimation and a minor con isn't worth the time to do that. If Funimation sued one of the top-20 cons we'd definitely put resources into editorial insight, but this lawsuit probably doesn't warrant it. We'll post the outcome when it's over. I should note, we approached the defendant for comment, gave them a deadline, and received no reply by press time. Standard practice, not our fault if they erroneously assumed they could stonewall the article indefinitely by not commenting (note: someone from Animeland did contact us (after the article was posted) to claim that Timmons was the only defendant, but this claim is easy to discredit by simply reading the lawsuit). -t |
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Dessa
 Posts: 4438 |
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Did you report it to the convention staff? Convention staff need to be diligent, but they can only catch/recognize so much. Especially since a lot of dealers will hide things when con staff come by, and put it back out when they're gone. |
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Proz512
 Posts: 74 Location: Texas, Ya'll |
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This is a common practice which is why some of the big conventions will have 'secret shoppers'. When confronted, the dealer will be in denial and conventions usually do not have authority to search their inventory. A convention is perfectly allowed to tell a dealer Do Not Return but then the dealer may get back in using another DBA. Attendees do like to go on post-con reaction (FB/Forums) and say that a convention had a dealer who sold bootleg merch. When asked which one, the vast majority say, "Uh, I dunno." Speak up, get us names during the convention or write it down to e-mail us afterward. Even if a dealer doesn't have a sign, it'll usually be listed in the program book or you can even ask them saying, "What's you name? Where can I buy more of your merch?" If you want bootlegs out of the dealers room, you (the attendee) need to be vigilante too as were usually vastly understaffed to keep an eye on every dealer. |
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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And yet Think Art Media only had gross revenues of $98,000 in 2011 according to the article? That seems absurdly small if they own the convention and have other businesses like the stickers as well. |
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Nocturne123
 Posts: 268 |
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Im very curious why a good bit of my posts are missing from this thread. I dont think I was out of line, especially since others posts here were on the same wavelength.
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Jinnie
Posts: 6 |
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If you're lucky as a convention, you also find dealers that you can trust absolutely to help you out with detecting bootlegs. (For example, Gimme Anime.) Sure, they might be competing for business with others in the room, but they also make it part of their business to preserve integrity.
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