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NEWS: Bandai Cracks Down on Bootleggers at Anime Expo

Yeah, ADV used the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which is really good in these circumstances as it allows a company to just send a complaint to a site/host instead of filing one in court.

I remember talking to a guy at a convention that had unlicensed material. By that I mean that the anime he was selling at the time was not licensed by any American companies (which won't get you in trouble from an American compay, but you'll still have to worry about the Japanese company coming after you). He was very good at keeping track of who owned what and pulled the anime as soon as it was picked up by an American distributor, thus keeping his business as legit as possible.
Bandai didn't like it (he was carrying Gundam long before Bandai bought it). One day, two people from Bandai show up at a smaller con he was set up at. They pulled the classic bad guy/good guy routine where one guy acts as a thug and the other acts as a reasonable guy. The thug, naturally, threatened him with physical abuse if he kept selling Bandai material.
I say this to Bandai out of concern for your employees: bad move. Don't threaten a shop owner, for it does not bode well for business, and I wouldn't be surprised in the least to find out one or more of your thugs wound up impaled on something or worse.
The shopkeeper in question, thankfully, kept his cool, flipped off the thug, turned his laptop around and told the Bandai guys to show him the proof they held the rights, which would be posted on-line.

Well Bandai Entertainment is a subsidiary of Bandai America, which in turn is a subsidiary of Bandai Co. Ltd. in Japan. So who knows if the word to crack down came from on high or a little bit closer to home. Still, I think it's a bit different if Bandai cracks down compared to FUNi or something, since they have anime interests in both Japan and the US.

admit that I own alot of boots, and I have to admit I would rather not, but there is not a great deal of anime released in the UK and boots is often the easiest to get it and the fact I absolutely refuse to buy 6 or 8 discs with only 3 or 4 episodes per disc for a series like Evangelion for example when bootleggers have shown that use can easily fit 7,8,9 episodes on a DVD with absolutely no loss of quality

How large, or small, is your TV? I project my anime (and everything I watch) on a 110 inch screen on my wall, and I can certanly see the loss in quality on some DVDs that have too many episodes.

Bandai's actually been cracking down for a while, but the stories I heard made them sound like a bunch of thugs when trying to shut down a bootleger. What made it worse is that Bandai was going after suspects with no proof when they started.
I remember talking to a guy at a convention that had unlicensed material. By that I mean that the anime he was selling at the time was not licensed by any American companies (which won't get you in trouble from an American compay, but you'll still have to worry about the Japanese company coming after you). He was very good at keeping track of who owned what and pulled the anime as soon as it was picked up by an American distributor, thus keeping his business as legit as possible.
Bandai didn't like it (he was carrying Gundam long before Bandai bought it).

You may not be aware that Bandai is a Japanese company, and that Bandai America is a subsidiary of them. Bandai has been involved in the production and distribution of many anime in Japan. Gundam would be one of them. So it's entirely possible that these people were following orders from Bandai HQ to stop people from selling their material.

Why does it seem that the Gundam series (more likely Gundam Seed) is getting more attend on (for bootleg round ups) and/or having more bootlegs?

And, why don't other companies do the same thing what is Bandai doing? For example, Sunrise and maybe Viz take down bootlegs of Inuyasha (which I ran into to a store that had bootlegs of anime. But it seem when that spefic DVD was released, they didn't pull the series off but just that bootleg DVD and replace with the legal one).

somedude67 wrote:

Actually that is not completely correct anime is created for the Japanese market. What is popular is Japan is what is made. If we like it after it has made its run in Japan then if companies here in America feel that it is marketable then they will sell it. The Japanese will continue to make anime for their people whether we buy it or not.

Indeed, however I believe the point was the if the selling of boots could hurt companies enough that they all stopped licensing anime in the US, then the only source of anime for us would be fansubs and boots. And if that was the case, you could bet that the prices of boots would be a lot more than they are now.

Shop Owners: No, you really have no excuses now to carry bootleg goods

Most people are not going to shell out 30 bucks for a show they have never seen. Now if you were in Japan you could watch a show on tv but for the companies that are licensing these animes that have never been shown on the Cartoon network or some other media outlet then the llikelihood of the anime fan to plop down 30 bucks for Azumanga daioh just on the chance that it might be fun to watch is kind of unlikely.

Most of my first viewings of animes that I did purchase eventually in DVD format was because I saw the series through the great efforts of fansubs. I am concerned that in the industries attempt to curb infringement upon their licensed titles they will reduce the amount of fan subbers thereby eliminating that needed previewing of a series before buying it.

Have you ever purchase an anime DVD without first seeing either through a rental or a fansub?