Copyright Infringement on eBay

[Matt R]

Look at this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/MEGA-COLLECTION-MAG ... 0563850907

I know you can put a stop to these if you are the copyright holder, but not sure if you can if you are not.

[Jonathan Townsend]

on ebaY asked them: How can you be offering used magic publications all on the same DVD and sell without violating the copyright of the items?

[Smurf]

Paul Harris has a link to a site called magicpiracy.org.

To send a tip, email tip@magicpiracy.org

Do not use this email for general communication; you will not get a response. This email is for providing tips about piracy only, and is forwarded to our investigators for that purpose.

[Raleigh]

I have reported this to ebay ..... it is has now " vanished " from the marketplace known as ebay !

[David Alexander]

Just after I read the post I reported the listing to eBay. EBay responded at 9:40 this morning. I knew it would be gone shortly thereafter, especially with several others all reporting the same thing.

EBay has seen this sort of thing before. There's no problem taking it down. They just have to be notified.

[Matt R]

Did you report through VERO or another way?

[Roger M.]

It's still up on ebay though?

The kid took a commonly available torrent download, combined it with a bunch of stolen YouTube videos, and put it up for sale.

Can you imagine what he could do if he put that time and effort into something else?.....or something of his own devise?

The thing I don't understand is that it would likely take somebody weeks, or months to scan that torrent (that particular torrent is everywhere, and has been for a couple of years).
Who on earth would put that kind of time and effort into stealing somebody else's stuff with no hope of a profit?

And within that question lies everything that's wrong with torrents and general internet bootlegs.

They do it for one simple reason...... because they can.

[Jonathan Townsend]

Reply from the seller: I DON'T REVIEW THE ITEM I JUST DROP SHIP FOR ANOTHER PARTY, BUT WILL CHECK IN TO IT.

[Gregory Edmonds]

Those who purchase this stolen property, both properly on an individual level of responsibility and legally, from a law enforcement perspective, are JUST as culpable as the person collecting and selling the material.

eBay, and any other organization facilitating the sale of said items are equally culpable in the eyes of the law, and are (though to process for removing said items, I can report from personal experience, is often almost prohibitively complicated) fully aware of their responsibility in this regard, and will (when a true case of copyright violation or intellectual property theft is established) take the necessary corrective action.

Just last week, I saw an Asian individual selling a direct rip-off of Dean Dill's amazing "Dean's Box," and contacted Dean immediately to inform him of the infraction. He told me he'd only a day earlier successfully removed the same product by the same seller, who simply switched his seller name.

In my view, we should all do more to ascertain the names of those engaged in this unlawful activity (the easiest way is to trace them through PayPal, which eBay owns and encourages use of for all transactions.

The BEST thing we can do, however, is to stop rewarding these thieves by refusing to purchase their products. To even imagine that this attitude would be universally adopted by member of the magic (or in the case of other categories) ANY publishing or performing community, is, I completely understand, a wish beyond the realms of reality. Still, if we refuse as a group to engage in barter with these people, at the very least, we can help make their identities known.

A famous illusionist, who's often worked with music industry stars in creating magical productions for the concert arena, made a bold statement on the first of a series of DVD productions a couple of years ago, insuring other in the industry that he in no way condoned nor participated in the unlawful theft of or marketing of stolen intellectual property. I applaud his statement, but couldn't help observing that the very (Canadian-based) magic company producing and distributing his DVD products is well-known as one of the boldest "rip-off" concerns in the modern history of the conjuring community.

These issues have been around (and publicly addressed) for well over a century now. They will, human nature being what it is, no doubt continue for at least the next forceable period of time. Many reading this have been victimized by these unscrupulous (to call them by the kindest name possible) individuals, I know I have, and on several occasions.

We can't, as individuals, put a stop to the blatant theft occurring around us, but if, as a group, we will make a concerted effort to identify the perpetrators and REFUSE to do business with them, this small community just might become a better one in which to belong.