Both Colleen Doran and Mark Evanier have posted accounts of a raid on Motor City Comic-Con yesterday by police who arrested dealers in bootleg DVDs of TV shows.
Having seen tables full of these copyright-violations sold in Southern California conventions (even those where folks from the industry often walk around), I'm just surprised something like this hasn't happened earlier. Many fans seem to think that the dealer isn't violating anyone's copyright when they put out a show that isn't commercially available on DVD yet. Not only is that just plain wrong (at least according to the copyright classes I took in law school), but it doesn't explain the bootlegs fans continue to sell after the shows copied are commercially available in the U.S.
When you consider case law holding flea markets liable for sellers of bootleg audio recordings, you have to wonder why show runners allow bootleg sellers in dealers' rooms.
1 comment:
At AX, I have heard that they have been combating bootleggersbut in a quiet manner (i.e. no big raids, just show staff quietly ousting bootleg booth owners behind the scenes). Last year, if memory serves me right, Bandai reps talked to AX staff and called attention to a large bootlegger, who was not seen or heard from again for the rest of the con.
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