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MyrmidonMamori
Joined: 28 Mar 2013
Posts: 18
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Posted: Thu May 30, 2024 12:01 am
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I know it IS a breach of copyright, but if Toei's not making official replicas, why go through the trouble of arresting them? It's not like they're losing money because people buy the twins' masks instead of the official ones that don't exist.
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Doubleclouder
Joined: 07 Jan 2024
Posts: 60
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Posted: Thu May 30, 2024 1:40 am
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MyrmidonMamori wrote: | I know it IS a breach of copyright, but if Toei's not making official replicas, why go through the trouble of arresting them? It's not like they're losing money because people buy the twins' masks instead of the official ones that don't exist. |
Not offering the exact same service or item isn't an excuse to ignore copyright violations. Especially if they ever consider doing the same thing in the future but everyone who would have already bought it already has an unofficial one so there's no profit to be made from it. And if said fan items turn out defective or dangerous it can hurt and damage the brand if people mistake it for official merchandise.
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seoulman1985
Joined: 01 Oct 2009
Posts: 105
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Posted: Thu May 30, 2024 10:57 am
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This is the work of Gorgom!
In all seriousness though, if (Premium) Bandai were to design and market replica helmets of the Double Riders, they'd easily fill that niche. Expensive endeavor, sure, but way loss hostile than persecuting unlicensed replicas.
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TarsTarkas
Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5909
Location: Virginia, United States
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Posted: Thu May 30, 2024 11:46 am
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Many people has side hustles, to make ends meet. They are over 65 years of age, so I can believe their excuse. Sadly they were not careful enough, and got caught. When you are literally, trying to pay the rent and put food on the table, copyright law (and other laws) are not that quite important anymore.
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Cho_Desu
Joined: 27 Dec 2022
Posts: 221
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Posted: Thu May 30, 2024 2:43 pm
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I feel like every week there's a news article along the lines of "Japan arrests 37-year-old fax machine repairman for selling between 70 and 75 unauthorized Hunter x Hunter fridge magnets."
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NieR
Joined: 29 Apr 2012
Posts: 216
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Posted: Fri May 31, 2024 4:05 am
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I've been curious about what results getting an arrest for copyright infringement. Maybe it's harsher in Japan in particular, but is this case completely different from people selling art/merch that they created based on existing copyright property? Like on etsy, bigcartel, gumroad, storenvy, various shirt websites like shirtpunch & theyetee, and conventions, the individuals selling them are making money off properties they themselves didn't create... Is that completely different from this article's scenario?
Like I've seen Grimoire Weiss [a video game character originating from Japan] replicas on etsy being sold for premium prices, but I guess that's legally allowed? Maybe not if it happened in Japan though.
If the Kamen Rider helmet replicas were made from people not living in Japan, and sold on etsy or non-Japan comic conventions like ones that sell sword and weapon replicas, the people selling them wouldn't get in legal trouble?
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Alan45
![](/bbs/phpBB2/images/subscriber-silver.png) Village Elder
Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 9931
Location: Virginia
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Posted: Fri May 31, 2024 7:48 am
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@NieR
For a Japanese company, copyright enforcement is fairly easy within Japan. They have to discover it, these guys made that easy selling online, and they have to file a complaint with the relevant authorities. Enforcement in the US is an order of magnitude more difficult. Finding the stuff is harder since it would be sold on English language websites. To find counterfeit goods at a convention or similar would require some one to be there. They would have to hire local attorneys to know the difference in the law and file suit.
Most of what you list is probably illegal under both Japanese and US law. Unfortunately for the Japanese company, the cost of enforcement would be too high to justify the effort. If an operation got too large, they would likely try to shut it down.
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revolutionotaku
Joined: 19 May 2011
Posts: 893
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Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2024 8:40 pm
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Acts of greed (on both sides).
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