Forum - View topicNEWS: Man Arrested for Printing, Selling Evangelion, Haruhi Stickers in Akiba
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9840 Location: Virginia |
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As in all of these cases where someone is picked up for selling counterfeit merchandise the article says he was arrested, nothing more. There is nothing to suggest what the procedure is from that point nor is there any indication of what a possible penalty may be if he is convicted.
Does anyone remember if we have had a follow up as to the penalty for this? Is anyone here sufficiently familiar with the Japanese judicial system to know what happens now? From some of the comments you would think they automatically branded him and threw him in a dungeon for the next 90 days before his case comes up. Here he would likely make bail and be back on the street in a few hours. At that point he would probably make more stickers and try to sell them to cover his legal fees. 
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Top Gun
 Posts: 4575 |
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17 grand just from selling stickers? Clearly I'm in the wrong line of work.
...um, I mean, thank God this heinous criminal is off the streets! |
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insert name here
Posts: 84 |
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Who hasn't broke the law? As for the $500, that's not nearly enough to live on, probably especially in Japan. It's not like this guy is getting rich, it sounds like he just needed some extra money to get by, saw a potential niche and went for it. So what if the cops had looked the other way, what's the worst thing that could happen? More cheap stickers for sale? God forbid. Oh well, at least they didn't choke him over it. |
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Touma
 Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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What about the legitimate retailers who lost sales because of this? They are never considered to be victims because nobody knows who they are. But the fans who were ready to buy merchandise probably would have made a legal purchase somewhere if they had not spent their money on the fake goods. I am just saying that there is more to this than the police persecuting a guy who is just trying to make a buck. Laws are made to protect people, and the police are expected to enforce those laws. The guy selling the stickers is not an evil criminal overlord, but he also does not deserve all of the sympathy here. |
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shiranehito
 Posts: 793 |
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Coming from a third world country where bootleg things are available everywhere without any care, this is really weird to see someone arrested for stickers.
There was an issue in my country's anime convention too. A booth sell bootleg t-shirts, wallet, keychains etc (with official arts and unauthorized fanarts taken from internet printed and being sold). A lot of keen eyes knew that the products are bootleg and they didn't buy anything from that booth, but a lot others, the "I don't care" customers bought a lot because it's cheap and it doesn't matter if it's bootleg (or simply don't know - or pretend not to know). The problem is, the convention never allows anyone to sell bootleg merchandises, but they somehow missed or overlooked that one. I think arrest and fine would be harsh to him, but let this be an example so the same crime won't happen again. |
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CrowLia
 Posts: 5504 Location: Mexico |
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I seriously doubt there's any company out there selling legit Haruhi Suzumiya IC cards and losing big bucks because of this one guy. And even if there is, seriously man, its 500 bucks, that's not even a month's worth of rent. |
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Touma
Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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I am not thinking of the big corporations. I was talking about the retail vendors who sell legal goods and have to compete with the illegal merchandise. People for whom $500 might be a significant amount of money.
What if it was your $500? Would you feel the same if he got money that should have gone into your till? If you were trying to make a living by legally selling what he was illegally selling at a lower price? |
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CrowLia
Posts: 5504 Location: Mexico |
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But these hypothetical retailers you talk about do not manufacture their own merchandise, do they? They get their legitimate products from a larger company that has the right owner's permition to create such merchandise. But if no such legit merchandise exists (as in, is there any legal market for IC Cards with Haruhi Suzumiya stickers? Are there some Japanese people in some obscure toy factory printing legal Evangelion stickers for IC Cards and sending them to the retailers?*). If the product does not exist, it's not a "money that should have gone to the retailer", because the retailers are not selling the product, even if this man hadn't been printing stickers, those 500 bucks wouldn't have gone to the retailers.
*A quick google search threw a handful of results that are long OOP and go for insane prices. I find it more inmoral to charge 36 dollars for a bleeping sticker than printing amateur stickers and selling them in a garage I'll throw in a lousy example: I once made a wallpaper of Ulquiorra from Bleach for my computer and shared it on my deviantArt. Once in a local Con I found a stand selling posters with that wallpaper. I did not feel robbed at all because I was not creating this product (nor had any intention to), thus any money they made for it would've never made it to my hands, even if they hadn't printed my pictures to sell them. I seriously find it kind of ridiculous to imply anyone was robbed of 500 bucks a month because someone else was selling something that the "robbed" person was not selling. Last edited by CrowLia on Fri Jan 09, 2015 12:42 am; edited 1 time in total |
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insert name here
Posts: 84 |
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Gotta love the law and order types. Anatole France once said it best:
or sell bootleg stickers. |
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minakichan
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Just because it's a small amount of money or the potential victims might not be hurt that much doesn't mean that it's not a) illegal or b) worth punishing. If I shoplift from Walmart, the corporation is huge enough that it's not going to affect anyone's livelihood-- they'll absorb the cost of whatever I take just fine (and they do). Still doesn't mean it's justified or I shouldn't get punished for it. (Well, most people probably think this way at least.)
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CrowLia
Posts: 5504 Location: Mexico |
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^Little bit off-topic, but the Mexican branch of Wal-Mart is involved in some huge money laundering scandal that's gone unpunished due to corruption, so even if it's illegal, I would contest whether it's unethical to shop-lift from their stores.
I'm not saying minor crimes should go unpunished. I just think it's absurd to arrest a man for printing stickers and selling them in his garage. It's one of the aspects of Japanese copyright law that I find mind-bogglingly ridiculous |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9840 Location: Virginia |
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Since the man was selling this merchandise openly for a couple of years it is likely that the local police either didn't realize it was bootleg or didn't care. This very likely was the result of his being turned in by some other local retailer or dissatisfied patron. Also he was not in competition just with other sellers of stickers but with anyone selling branded merchandise.
Also as I mentioned above that fact that he was arrested does not mean he was automatically severely punished or even held very long. In some other jurisdiction it might have been handled differently, but in Japan they feel arrest is appropriate. It is one of the prices of living in a country of laws not people. |
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