Pirate Star Trek DVD's

[Rojan]

I have found numerous pirate Star Trek DVD box sets being sold on an auction web site (not eBay)

I have notified the web site admin, but they don’t seem to care.

Does anyone know how to email CBS Paramount directly about these pirate DVD’s, as I can’t find any anti-piracy contacts anywhere.

Would CBS Paramount even follow up on such a report, or should I just forget about it?

Just hate knowing many people buying these DVD’s will end up with such poor quality rubbish.

 

[Trekwatcher]

Asian import and bootleg DVD sets are ALL OVER ebay. I am sure eBay is aware of this. There are bootlegs of all 5 series. This has been going on for a long time, and they never seem to go away.

 

[darkshadow0001]

Which is sad, really. That is where the crime is (people selling/making money off of bootleg copies of shows/movies.) more then anything.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

eBay doesn't care about anything except eBay making money. They don't even care about their own customers getting ripped off! Why should they care about the studios getting ripped off?

The sad thing is that the Asian bootlegs are crap, a good chunk of the time. Reports posted over and over in the DS9 forum tell tales of the last few minutes of the 4th episode on each DVD being cut off and stuff like that.

Bottom line - if the price seems too good to be true, it probably is.

 

[Kryton]

My favorite one was when Johnny Kirk was in the Nebula where Davy Khan and his octopus face couldn't see him...and then he said "FIRE" and the photon torpedo damaged Davy's ship (because of his 2-dimensional thinking). That was awesome!

As he said when Davy Khan tried to strand him underground, "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!"

 

[gastrof]

My favorite one was when Johnny Kirk was in the Nebula where Davy Khan and his octopus face couldn't see him...and then he said "FIRE" and the photon torpedo damaged Davy's ship (because of his 2-dimensional thinking). That was awesome!

As he said when Davy Khan tried to strand him underground, "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!"

Have you switched to using one of your backup heads again? Maybe the very old one?

 

[Kryton]

I'd love to answer that if I'd actually seen one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies past the first one. I was pretty much faking it there for laffs.

 

[ToddPence]

Why would there even be a market for Star Trek DVDs on bootleg, when all series and movies are readily availble on DVD in quality official releases? Bootleg DVDs are usually of series that are not yet availible officially on DVD.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Just hate knowing many people buying these DVD’s will end up with such poor quality rubbish.

Eh, that's what they deserve for buying pirate DVDs. Live and learn.

 

[erastus25]

Just hate knowing many people buying these DVD’s will end up with such poor quality rubbish.

Eh, that's what they deserve for buying pirate DVDs. Live and learn.

Some people honestly don't realize they are bootlegs. I had a friend who bought a season of DS9 not realizing that the whole "surplus Chinese edition" things was a scam.

 

[Rojan]

Why would there even be a market for Star Trek DVDs on bootleg, when all series and movies are readily availble on DVD in quality official releases? Bootleg DVDs are usually of series that are not yet availible officially on DVD.

Because these pirate box sets of TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise are being listed at $85 each for the full seasons of any series.

One listing was for every season of TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise for just $279 buy it now, which works out to just $56 per full series.

Difficult for the official versions to compete with those low prices.

I have recently purchased the non-pirate full season box sets of TNG, DS9 and Voyager at higher prices than above, but at least know there is a 99% chance that all 143 discs will play properly and without having the endings chopped off.

Just hate knowing many people buying these DVD’s will end up with such poor quality rubbish.

Eh, that's what they deserve for buying pirate DVDs. Live and learn.

Totally agree if the buyers are actually aware that these are pirate DVD’s, but some buyers just wouldn’t know; obviously none of the listings proclaim these as being bootleg DVD’s. In fact they claim to be fully licensed and legal versions.

NB: All prices stated are in Australian dollars and comparison is intended against licensed region 4 DVD’s.

 

[CaptainStoner]

I have found numerous pirate Star Trek DVD box sets being sold on an auction web site (not eBay)

I have notified the web site admin, but they don’t seem to care.

Does anyone know how to email CBS Paramount directly about these pirate DVD’s, as I can’t find any anti-piracy contacts anywhere.

Would CBS Paramount even follow up on such a report, or should I just forget about it?

Just hate knowing many people buying these DVD’s will end up with such poor quality rubbish.

Ebay doesn't police itself, it prefers to play neutral, take the money, and claim no wrong doing. We need a Ferengi emote... You can get listings pulled but more will pop up behind them.
I went as far as to email a Paramount rep. My impression from the exchange is that they don't do anything actively to stop it. They don't know how to use a search engine to find these listings, and when I sent them the links, they pass it on to the MPAA.
I did use a quote from the guy and edited it into the Wiki page on Star Trek DVD, which was showing the "asian edition" as if it were official. I altered the text to read that the pictured set was bootleg, and got angry emails from Wiki people claiming I'd "vandalized" the page.

 

[Triskelion]

Piracy is one of the major WTO issues with China. However, on street level it's rampant (oh, except for the week of an international event like a film festival). Pirate shops abound, in which one can purchase DVD's for less than $1 US each. Releases and prereleases stolen from industry review copies are pressed and mass produced. The reason why it's not only tolerated but commonplace is corruption (hum, who profits, let me think).

The sets are sold on ebay for inflated prices for bootlegs. The quality is usually pretty good, actually. The last 4 minute cut-off thing only occurs on about one disc of ten. Sometimes you don't get the special features, sometimes you do; the trick is, the newer the release, the less features usually available.

These issues are being addressed at the international level; problem is, some countries don't really police their own people, for some reason. A case of the left hand not asking what the right hand is doing. That is unless it became a threat to status quo. I don't see piracy doing that any time soon.

We are talking about industries that can manufacture pirated eggs, for goodness sake. DVDs are only the tip of the iceberg. Meanwhile, value chains are so spread out that no one is held accountable, except the occasional public scapegoat.

Sigh, I remember a time when not everything was some 2 cent piece of shit that's priced in dollars. It's like living in the Matrix where you're constantly having to replace all the crap that breaks down.

 

[Broccoli]

Piracy is one of the major WTO issues with China. However, on street level it's rampant (oh, except for the week of an international event like a film festival). Pirate shops abound, in which one can purchase DVD's for less than $1 US each. Releases and prereleases stolen from industry review copies are pressed and mass produced. The reason why it's not only tolerated but commonplace is corruption (hum, who profits, let me think).

Which reminds of an interesting side story...I remember reading that when Casino Royale was released in theaters, either Martin Campbell or Daniel Craig (I can't remember which) was walking down a street in China and a bootlegger tried to sell them a copy of CR. The thing was that CR hadn't yet been released yet in China.

 

[Rojan]

Sigh, I remember a time when not everything was some 2 cent piece of shit that's priced in dollars. It's like living in the Matrix where you're constantly having to replace all the crap that breaks down.

You have just eloquently summed up the whole experience & routine of my life as a consumer.

 

[Wonderlust King]

In today's world, what kind of idiot pays for a bootleg?

Haven't they ever heard of P2P?

 

[darkshadow0001]

Piracy is one of the major WTO issues with China. However, on street level it's rampant (oh, except for the week of an international event like a film festival). Pirate shops abound, in which one can purchase DVD's for less than $1 US each. Releases and prereleases stolen from industry review copies are pressed and mass produced. The reason why it's not only tolerated but commonplace is corruption (hum, who profits, let me think).

Italy was like this too, when I was there a few years ago. In the neighborhood that I stayed in, they had open (outside) markets that teenagers were selling bootlegged movies and music. You could tell, because you can't normally get a new-released movie for $5

 

[darkshadow0001]

In today's world, what kind of idiot pays for a bootleg?

Haven't they ever heard of P2P?

Doesn't P2P mean person-to-person chat?

 

[Wonderlust King]

In today's world, what kind of idiot pays for a bootleg?

Haven't they ever heard of P2P?

Doesn't P2P mean person-to-person chat?

It stands for Peer to Peer

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Wonderlust King, I know you aren't telling people to download episodes illegally, but discussion of file sharing sites is actually against the rules, so please stop.