TV on DVD on Ebay
 

How do sellers on Ebay get away with selling TV show compliations on homemade DVD's. (i assume these are recorded off of TV)

I saw offerings for Route 66, Nash Bridges, WKRP, and Science Fiction Theater and many others. I dont believe all of these are in the PD.

I've heard about the lawsuits against music copiers who aren't even trying to sell the music only listen to it, why would video be any different?

Seems like Ebay could be charged with trafficing in stolen goods.

ebay has disclaimers, and shuts auctions down at the request of the companies...they are free and clear.

These auctions have to be reported to be shut down.

There is a landmark lawsuit alleging just that- that eBay is trafficking. Of course should eBay lose, it will have a huge ripple effect, effectively ending the clasified section of all newspapers since that is basically what eBay is.

As has been said, anyone can report an auction and it can be pulled.

And that's why it will lose. eBay's VeRO system basically is a shut down first, ask questions later system.

Dude, I was the one who told you I bought SFT on ebay. I have no idea whether it's public domain at this point or not. I don't support bootleggers, but, at the same time, there has never been, and I suspect there will never be, a "legitimate" 2 season set of DVDs for this programming.

I watched these programs when originally aired as a kid and didn't see any alternative way to get the shows. I watch a few shows every now and then and laugh at the vintage effects while remembering how fantastic they seemed at the time. I remember being crushed when the show was cancelled.

Phil

I've reported numerous bootleg auctions, ebay rarely shuts them down. Ebay makes their money from sellers not buyers.

Unless you are the owner of the copyrighted material, eBay will not take action on reports of bootleg auctions.

eBay DOES shut down pirate auctions immediately.

eBay draws a distinction between pirated material (illegal duplication of existing products) and bootlegs (products of copyrighted material not authorized by the copyright owner).

Piracy is out-n-out illegal. There seems to be a "gentleman's agreement" in general with regard to bootlegs. Copyright owners turn a blind eye to bootleggers producing discs of material that hasn't been released yet, and the bootleggers agree to withdraw that material at a time when the copyright owners' "official" product is available. There are exceptions, but I've found that to be the case in general.

There was some kind of court ruling on this. I've seen disclaimers on bootleg auctions that state "this product complies with such and such". Unless these DVDs and tapes are being made directly from film prints they are still piracy. If someone is selling WKRP DVDs recorded off tv they are illegal. If they are from 16mm prints I think they fall into the gray area of the ruling. I can't believe all the people getting away with selling ripped copies of OOP DVDs like This Island Earth, Double Indemnity etc. I was thinking of buying the R2 of the horror movie From Beyond and one seller even said in his description that "it had been extracted from the R2 PAL release and will play in R1 NTSC players". I won't buy any of this junk.

Unless you are a lawyer and have read the ruling, it's just your opinion based on someone's report of the ruling.

Disney is notorious for their tight-fisted control over their copyrighted material. They regularly swoop down on eBay and have auctions for pirated material closed... and yet "bootlegged" auctions stay open.

So should we believe someone's interpretation of what they heard about what some judge ruled... or the actions of a company known for their overzealous protection of their material?

Not really...studios view them as lost sales, so if something is pirated a lot then the feel as though the market for that title has gone away.

Of course someone will say, "Then they should release it on DVD now rather than later." While that's true, the studios only have a certain number of employees, stores only have a certain number of shelves, and consumers only have a certain number of dollars. Not everything can come out at once.

Gord

I saw some "Brokeback Mountain" DVDs selling for over $100, but they weren't the movie, just a supposed hell of a lot of videos, pictures, interviews with people who made the movie. Thats nonsense.

I'd like to get "Andy Richter Controls The Universe" on DVD and noticed a bunch of auctions on eBay.

I do admit to purchasing "Get A Life" w/Chris Elliott on eBay. Of course I would grab it the second it was legitimately released. I have the high-priced releases as well.

So,
If video programming has ever been released on consumer DVD or VHS and you make a copy of it to sell that is "piracy".

On the other hand,
If video programming has never, ever been released on consumer DVD or VHS, and the only copies around are those recorded off of TV or by someone with access to a TV-network distribution copy meant for broadcast and then complied and sold its called "bootleg".