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Is this counterfeiting?
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44 posts in this topic

Looks like a possible copyright violation.  Depends on what the statute of limitations is on copyrights, before they fall into the public domain. 

Some intellectual property material, like old books, movies, songs, etc., are emerging from their protected status.  The laws protecting them have a time limit.

Certainly the Silver Age stuff by Marvel and DC are not able to be reproduced without permission, but people will do what they can get away with, until someone makes the effort to stop them.

Also, I have seen situations where the items are for sale here in the U.S., but the products are shipped from outside the country.  That makes it even more complicated to stop.

 

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1 hour ago, Lightning55 said:

Looks like a possible copyright violation.  Depends on what the statute of limitations is on copyrights, before they fall into the public domain. 

Some intellectual property material, like old books, movies, songs, etc., are emerging from their protected status.  The laws protecting them have a time limit.

Certainly the Silver Age stuff by Marvel and DC are not able to be reproduced without permission, but people will do what they can get away with, until someone makes the effort to stop them.

Also, I have seen situations where the items are for sale here in the U.S., but the products are shipped from outside the country.  That makes it even more complicated to stop.

 

Aside from copyright, the biggest potential problem is these could be passed off as originals.

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46 minutes ago, kustomizer said:

Aside from copyright, the biggest potential problem is these could be passed off as originals.

Yes, the door is open to abuse in that area.  Not having seen one, I'm curious how they compare to the originals.  Especially the type of paper, cover gloss, color saturation,etc.

And I hope someone reports the situation, although eBay is known to be very slow to react, if they do at all.

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1 hour ago, Lightning55 said:

Yes, the door is open to abuse in that area.  Not having seen one, I'm curious how they compare to the originals.  Especially the type of paper, cover gloss, color saturation,etc.

And I hope someone reports the situation, although eBay is known to be very slow to react, if they do at all.

I've seen similar listings on eBay before, but the sellers seem to go underground pretty quickly. I contacted one of them last year as if I was interested in purchasing from him. Initially he said he could reprint virtually any comic I wanted, but after a further equiry he stopped responding. Probably got spooked. This is pretty serious stuff, making near exact replicas of items that are worth tens of thousands of dolllars. His feedback is good, buyers are impressed with the quality.

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3 hours ago, Howling Mad said:

There's 938 of them on the CGC Census, they aren't exactly rare.

They fetch insane prices though. Kind of like the Tesla of comics.

Probably easier to get away with fake copies of this too, as you wouldn't know what the genuine article is supposed to look like, being an indie printing.

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14 hours ago, Mmehdy said:

I wonder how the paper quality is on those and how similar to the original?...

He apparently uses newsprint paper for the interiors, not sure what he has for the covers. They don't look vibrant/saturated enough on his photos, but they might be better in person. From his feedback, people seem pretty happy with the results. In 10 or 20 years, will new collectors be able to tell the difference between these and originals?

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15 hours ago, kustomizer said:

He apparently uses newsprint paper for the interiors, not sure what he has for the covers. They don't look vibrant/saturated enough on his photos, but they might be better in person. From his feedback, people seem pretty happy with the results. In 10 or 20 years, will new collectors be able to tell the difference between these and originals?

that is the real problem...what if somebody does it even better...real issues for long term collecting 

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17 hours ago, kustomizer said:

He apparently uses newsprint paper for the interiors, not sure what he has for the covers. They don't look vibrant/saturated enough on his photos, but they might be better in person. From his feedback, people seem pretty happy with the results. In 10 or 20 years, will new collectors be able to tell the difference between these and originals?

Anyone want to spend the $99.99 to find out?  

This guy is clearly selling them as "replicas" so to that end...OK - copyrights notwithstanding.

It's subsequent owners of these books that could be the real problem - if they try to pass them off as the real McCoy.

I'd be a little happier if he'd labelled them all as "replicas", reprints" or something similar.

 

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33 minutes ago, pemart1966 said:

Anyone want to spend the $99.99 to find out?  

This guy is clearly selling them as "replicas" so to that end...OK - copyrights notwithstanding.

It's subsequent owners of these books that could be the real problem - if they try to pass them off as the real McCoy.

I'd be a little happier if he'd labelled them all as "replicas", reprints" or something similar.

 

As far as I can tell, these books do not have 'replica' printed on them anywhere. The whole idea appears to be these are copies that cost way less than originals for collectors who just have to have them. At best, they can fool their collector buddies with their seemingly impressive aquisitions. At worst, they can try to resell them as genuine. I don't see this as any different than printing up exact copies of $100 bills and selling those as replicas. It's just unbelievable.

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The guy just keeps listing more and more. I notice that a lot of the replicas are quite poorly trimmed, so at least that's something to watch for. I can't believe he's going to a printer where they have no regard for copyright. Maybe he's getting them done in China.

Ah well, who knows?! I thought it was worth flagging this, as I'm sure it'll lead to problems down the track.

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10 hours ago, kustomizer said:

As far as I can tell, these books do not have 'replica' printed on them anywhere. The whole idea appears to be these are copies that cost way less than originals for collectors who just have to have them. At best, they can fool their collector buddies with their seemingly impressive aquisitions. At worst, they can try to resell them as genuine. I don't see this as any different than printing up exact copies of $100 bills and selling those as replicas. It's just unbelievable.

Just so that I'm clear - I'm not trying to defend this guy in any way, shape or form.  Without the caveat printed on them, this whole scenario lends itself to someone getting burned at some point in time with these...

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2 hours ago, pemart1966 said:

Just so that I'm clear - I'm not trying to defend this guy in any way, shape or form.  Without the caveat printed on them, this whole scenario lends itself to someone getting burned at some point in time with these...

No problem, I agree with what you're saying.

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It appears to be a brutal and blatant violation of USC 17. Moreover, if eBay is aware that it is, then they're also in violation of the US Copyright act and listing "Replica" doesn't provide a license. Years ago I was conned by a counterfeiter and Jerry Weist helped me figure out the books actual state/authenticity through its paper and process and that in turn helped me get my money back. IMO, the person creating these works is honing their craft... someone should purchase a book and then when they have their home address/business address, send it to the legal departments at DC and Marvel and let the lawyers coordinate with LE. 

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58 minutes ago, Mxwll Smrt said:

It appears to be a brutal and blatant violation of USC 17. Moreover, if eBay is aware that it is, then they're also in violation of the US Copyright act and listing "Replica" doesn't provide a license. Years ago I was conned by a counterfeiter and Jerry Weist helped me figure out the books actual state/authenticity through its paper and process and that in turn helped me get my money back. IMO, the person creating these works is honing their craft... someone should purchase a book and then when they have their home address/business address, send it to the legal departments at DC and Marvel and let the lawyers coordinate with LE. 

...or just advise DC and Marvel directly and save $99.99   ;)

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