Copy-write piracy

[THE DC]

Due to lack of experience and powerful enough equipment, I'm not able to design my own kits yet, but I was thinking about another way that I can give back.

I called and spoke to a senior manager at eBay about all of the piracy of kits, especially by ***** and similar thieves, and have been given an email and contact to their division for copy-write infringement. They have offered, if I can get emails, copy-write statements, and contact to owners, they will examine and ban such sellers.

Is this something of value to the community?

If so, who would like to help build a database for them to prove that the items sold are not owned by these vendors?

Interested authors may forward their info & I will call and coordinate a packet to send eBay.

 

[Revell-Fan]

"They" do have put up some of my models and build pics but I ignore them in order not to give "them" any unnecessary attention. This topic pops up here from time to time. It is a common and well-known issue but in essence there is not much you can do to prevent it. If a seller is banned you may count on it that he / she will open a new account shortly after that and continues as usual. In addition, many of the fan-art out there is unlicensed, so the creator of a fan-art is unable to take any legal actions in case of an "abuse" of his / her creations.

BTW, I recommend not to mention "them" in order to avoid anyone searching their site for their or anyone else's models. That would 1) give them more attention than they deserve and 2) boost them up in the google search results which may lead to more traffic to their site (= free advertising / promotion for them; so in a way you serve their cause).

I really appreciate your concern but it is a fight against windmills, so-to-speak.

 

[zathros]

I had a long conversation with "Joy", Canon Corporation about that particular "Go ask *****, She's sure to know", and they said they were powerless to do anything about it.

I have stated this before, The group's target sales is primarily China, that part of the world. The Internet is really closed down there. In reality, it may be the only way some people can get models there. I think if Canon Corporation has thrown in the towel, that does not bode well for anyone else. It's best not to name them, or publicize them. I don't think it really makes much of a difference in the larger scale. It wasn't like anyone was going to make a dime off of them anyway.

 

[paper hollywood]

Well, The DC, I think your offer is very generous and I'm rather impressed you managed to get an eBay senior manager on the phone. That company likes to keep it's distance from ordinary folks like me. Yours is a noble cause, for sure, though as Zathros points out, it may be quite an uphill battle. As soon as item is removed or an account shut down, another can arise. Good luck, at any rate.

I've always thought it oddly ironic that on the Internet, crooks copy priced things and put them up for free and copy free things and put them up with a price. It's a strange world.

 

[zathros]

I am about to close this thread. There will be no database of pirate model sites hosted on this forum. Organize this through Email, outside of the forum. We are not the internet police, though we do what we can, but the publishers of the more well known models can do nothing. Nothing will be done about this. This topic has been beat to death on too many forums and in reality, EBAY will do nothing but placate you till they bore you or just stop responding to you. EBAY , China, is not going to obey the rules of EBAY, U.S.A.. It is an issue nothing can be done about. In Europe, some of the publishers are now actually putting highly detailed pictures of their complete model plans, that can be downloaded and printed and made into a model, albeit, at a smaller scale. This is how they fight piracy. They just give you a version to scan.

The point being missed here is that when you buy a book from the printer, you are getting all the parts printed to an incredible high standard, and every part printed on the exact paper that should be used. You cannot get this from scanned models.

This forum's focus is building design and exchange of ideas. That takes enough time out of my day. This issue in reality affects very few as the models were going to be given away, the people who paid for them, were never going to pay anyone else. They could argue they are charging for the consolidation of these "free models". and are charging for their labor and service provided, especially to the many 100's of millions who do not have computers or do not have the means to print them. They select a model and have a local print shop or school print it out. Too many variables.

I have and will remove the names of any groups or persons offering pirated models from threads, so please save me the trouble. Thanks.