Bandai's Taking Action Against Imports/Bootlegs

[Japschin]

Jerry_Vo said:
IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Bandai Entertainment Cracks Down on DVD Piracy and Intellectual Property Infringement


Cypress, CA (July 7, 2004) ×Bandai Entertainment announced today that it has served lawsuits against several retailers for engaging in the duplication, importation, distribution, and/or sale of unauthorized merchandise infringing upon copyrighted and trademarked properties at this yearfs Anime Expo convention in Anaheim, California. Defendants in Bandai's lawsuit include:

Otaku Entertainment, Inc., dba MANGA HOUSE
EJ International, Inc., dba ABCTOY4ME.COM and ANIMECIRCLE.COM
Anime Combo
MTWC Group, Inc., dba Kawaii Anime and Kawaii-Anime.com
John Lo, Inc., dba House of Anime and Houseofanime.com

"The increased proliferation of counterfeit merchandise and DVD piracy of Japanese animated properties has gone on for too long", states Ken Iyadomi, Executive Vice President of Bandai Entertainment. "The time has come to take a stand against the flood of cheap knockoffs and blatant bootlegs. The vendors who sell pirated merchandise, CDs, and DVDs are causing huge economic losses for legitimate businesses and must be stopped."

With the full cooperation of all those who participate in the creation and distribution of these products in Japan and elsewhere - Bandai Entertainment aims to aggressively protect its intellectual property rights and licenses through these actions and hopes that these lawsuits will send a clear message to other retailers and distributors that distributing counterfeit or bootleg DVDs and merchandise will not be tolerated.

Consumers and retailers are urged to contact Bandai Entertainment at [email protected] to report other distributors suspected of selling counterfeit DVDs and merchandise.


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It is so amazing that some stores would be sooooooooooo dumb to bring in the bootlegs during major anime conventions when they know very well that the major studios would be there as well.

[Peter]

Now it's Bandai turn against piracy :-)

The websites Import-anime, anime irc and boxtorrent were all victims to ADV demands to get rid of all the licensing stuff that is already available.
I think more websites who have imports will suffer soon

I'm surprised that Geneon didn't make a move as of yet.

[rugrats1]

I'm surprised that Geneon didn't make a move as of yet.

Other companies that have yet to take action are Viz, Right Stuf, Media Blasters and Tokyo Pop. So far, ADV, Funi, Bandai and Animeigo are the only ones to step up to the plate for this piracy war.

This is practically one of the reasons why some companies like ADV are now charging HK prices for older R1 DVD sets.

[mocoto]

Originally posted by rugrats1
So far, ADV, Funi, Bandai and Animeigo are the only ones to step up to the plate for this piracy war.

Bandai is the very first one to really sue. The others have just been sending a few emails.

[gohan32]

I had no idea ADV had dropped some of their prices. I haven't noticed any difference in stores like FYE or Sam Goody's. Is it possible that the stores are just keeping the same price? I also haven't been into an anime selling store in ages.

[Japschin]

Originally posted by gohan32
I had no idea ADV had dropped some of their prices. I haven't noticed any difference in stores like FYE or Sam Goody's. Is it possible that the stores are just keeping the same price? I also haven't been into an anime selling store in ages.

Some stores either they don't update or they don't know about the price change. I use rightstuf to check the MSRP for the dvds. Usually rightstuf is pretty efficient in updating the MSRPs of the dvds.

[Cidien]

ADV now sells their own version of HK boxsets on older R1's. They still charge more than they need to but at least they are attempting to bring the prices down. I don't think I currently own an ADV hk because I usually like to support their attempts to give cheaper R1 anime to the masses. However, they could be doing better by releasing those boxsets of newer series a couple months after all the single dvd's are out.

If they really wanted to combat HK's I think they should release their own version of HK's and put more episodes on one disc and sell them in cheaper boxes like HK's. Just have two releases. A normal R1 release and the lower quality R1 release. Just sell the sets for $35-40 in stores and I think they would just about put HK businesses out of business in the U.S. (I actually like those boxes btw) Anyone else feel this way?

[xtremegummibear]

I have to agree with Cidien . It would be better off that way. It's so pathetic that they release dvds with like 3-4 episodes only, yet they are being sold at crazy high prices! Companies will say that they are in it for the money. I saw, screw them! Just sell the whole series in one small set of dvds for a cheap price and HKs will go out of business. I feel ya Cidien

[Yojimbo]

Hey, companies do have the licenseing fees, Voice talent, translators, marketing, digital editors, etc... to pay. But I know I won't buy an HK of a series that goes for under $100 per 26 episodes... ADV releasing BGC 2040 and the like for $90.00 or less is an excellent deal. Search out and support the lower priced R1s if you want other companies to follow suit.

[Japschin]

Originally posted by Yojimbo
Hey, companies do have the licenseing fees, Voice talent, translators, marketing, digital editors, etc... to pay. But I know I won't buy an HK of a series that goes for under $100 per 26 episodes... ADV releasing BGC 2040 and the like for $90.00 or less is an excellent deal. Search out and support the lower priced R1s if you want other companies to follow suit.

Some ppl obviously think that the studios in USA get the anime from Japan for free and there are no additional cost. Digital editors, marketers, translators, VA etc work for free for these studios, so they think.

I wonder what is considered as cheap R1s to people. $20-$30 for a brick? Well, you can get $20-$30 for a brick online if you bothered to look around. R1s aren't THAT expensive as some claims. So many titles have MSRP below $10-$15.

Originally posted by Japschin

I read somewhere before that licensing an anime cost $300k and above, depending on the popularity. Cost of producing, no idea. Dubbing artistes get paid between $3k-$5k per artist, depending on their popularity/experiences.

Don't blame it all on the studios for the high prices. Blame it on the distributors and retailers. I have a friend who used to work in ADV sales department. He said that they sold each dvd to distributors ranging from $10-$13. The distributors may add $2-$4 when they sell them to the retailers. After that, it's up to the retailers to set their prices.

This was what I posted when there was a thread regarding ADV requesting their licensed anime titles to be taken off this site. Try finding out and gathering your own info b4 thinking that animes are brought over to USA for free and claiming that the studios are out to rip ppl off.

[Vicious]

Originally posted by xtremegummibear
I have to agree with Cidien . It would be better off that way. It's so pathetic that they release dvds with like 3-4 episodes only, yet they are being sold at crazy high prices! Companies will say that they are in it for the money. I saw, screw them! Just sell the whole series in one small set of dvds for a cheap price and HKs will go out of business. I feel ya Cidien

You're both idiots then. What would be the point of them selling DVD's at a loss? The point of a business is to make money. Are you too stupid to realize that the HK companies don't pay any licensing fees, don't have to pay directors, producers, voice actors, marketing fees, etc.

Do you not realize that the HK companies have no fees, no overhead at all other than buying DVD-R's and having somebody copy other sources and storing these in some small warehouse?

That is the reason why the R1's cost so much more than HK's. Because the R1 companies are having to pay all this money to put the product out. Then the HK companies simply copy their work.

[Elcoholic]

Originally posted by Vicious

That is the reason why the R1's cost so much more than HK's. Because the R1 companies are having to pay all this money to put the product out. Then the HK companies simply copy their work.

Than do you think maybe the licensing fees the Japanese production company's ask are to high?

[Vicious]

Originally posted by elcoholic
Than do you think maybe the licensing fees the Japanese production company's ask are to high?

I've heard they are. But none of us know the real numbers, so who knows. I have heard that what they're asking for Macross Zero is supposed to be astronomically high.

But my point was that the R1's, not only have to pay licensing fees, but everyone on their end that puts work into translating and dubbing the titles as well.

[JunkieJoe]

interestingly enough, most people dont care much about the dubbing, which would be the second highest cost after the licensing...

while the translating, thats just someone they pay minimum wage to.

[Vicious]

Originally posted by JunkieJoe
interestingly enough, most people dont care much about the dubbing,

I'd have to disagree with you on that one. It seems to me that alot of HK buyers lately have been clamoring for the dubs, and that's why you get so many threads popping up asking 'when is so and so title gonna be ripped by FX?'. A few years ago, there were 'Perfect Collections' of only a few titles, but now, it seems like every other title being released is an R1 rip.

Or were you saying that most HK buyers don't take into account the dubbing costs that the R1 companies have to pay for?