Martial arts video fraud on the internet

Recently, I purchased a martial arts dvd on one of the popular internet auction sites (you know who I'm talking about). When I received the dvd I knew something was wrong immediately. The auction description was written so that I believed I was purchasing the real thing. What I received was not what I expected. There were several things that made me think the dvd was a bootleg copy.

1) The dvd did not come in the normal dvd case. It arrived in a thin round plastic case with no label.

2) The label on the dvd only gave the title printed on it.

3) The label was poorly printed with lines across the label (like an ink jet printer does when low on ink)

4) The recorded side of the dvd had a blue-ish tint. Real commercially sold dvd's are silver.

Because this looked really like fraud, I investigated further. To my surprise I found that the video I received is not available as a dvd. It is currently only available on vhs tape.

Next I found that the vhs tape sells for just under $50.00 not the less than $10.00 I paid.


At that point I contacted the martial artist that created the video. Although I won't mention his name here, suffice it to say that he is famous and from "down under". When he received my email he asked that I mail the dvd to him for verification. Recently I received an email from him stating that the dvd was a fake. He went on to say that he planned to contact the auction site about this seller.

Finally, while waiting to here from the legal rights owner, I did some more snooping. Here is what I found:

1) The seller has sold many dvd titles that are available from Paladin Press.

2) The dvd's are being offered for around $10.00 each. Yet they sell for 4 to 5 times that much from Paladin Press.

3) I contacting three others that bought dvd's from the same guy I got mine from. All three confirmed that there dvd's were packaged like mine and also were blue-ish in color.

Conclusion: At the time of this post the seller is still listing these illegal bootleg dvd's. I have filed a case with the auction site. The seller refuses to acknowledge that he is selling bootleg dvd's. He has refused to refund my money unless I send the dvd back to him. So if you plan to buy any martial arts videos through intern auction sites, be ware that you may not get what you think you are buying. To make matters worse the other buyers have given the seller good feedback scores. Either they don't know they were sold illegal dvd's or they don't care because the price is so cheap. These bootleggers belong behind bars. Please report illegal bootlegs.

Are you looking for training you can't find?

There are many martial arts schools and organizations available to the martial artist or martial arts instructor. When looking for a prospective place to train it can be hard to choose where to go. There are hundreds of martial arts to choose from and almost as many organizations. You can separate most schools and organizations into one of two main categories. The most common is set up to offer martial arts based on learning, physical fitness, and sport competition. These schools have many more children than adults as students. The second type of martial arts school is much different. There the training is self-defense oriented. By that I mean that the techniques are based on realistic proven combat techniques. Fancy moves and high kicks and competition is not part of the training. In this type of environment students will still get the benefits of exercise. The difference is that all training is designed to teach the student how to defend themselves if their life is threatened. In such situations, how fit you are has little or nothing to do with being able to defend yourself. Real fights do not last long, being flexible or having endurance is not necessary. What is necessary is that you be trained well. Your training must have prepared you to act quickly and effectively in order to survive. Today we have become a society that mistakenly believes that if we train to earn a black belt that we are well trained to defend ourselves. This is a dangerous mind-set that could get you hurt of even killed. The martial arts are about self-defense. It really has very little to do with earning a belt. Either you can defend yourself or you can’t. If you are interested mostly in exercise, flexibility, and competition, you will not have any trouble selecting a martial arts school or organization. However, if you are mainly interested in developing an effective method of self-defense, you will have fewer choices.

In 1967, I began my study of the martial arts. From the beginning, my goal was to learn self-defense skills. In the 1970's I began to teach others. My goal as an instructor is also to teach effective self-defense skills. Over the years I have refined the way I train and teach. Today my students and I do only minimal exercise. We work one-on-one with a partner to practice realistic self-defense techniques. Many times someone will ask me, “what is the most effective technique”? Everyone you ask will give you a different answer to that question. My attitude is simple. If you can’t defend yourself in a confined space (like a telephone booth), you need to rethink your methods. Self-defense should be something that anyone of any age or in any health condition should be able to do. Effective techniques are techniques are techniques that you can continue to develop as you get older. Unfortunately, many of the commonly practiced martial arts techniques rely on physical attributes like flexibility, strength, and endurance. Self-defense of this type is fine for young healthy students. As they reach middle age and beyond their skills begin to decline. On the other hand, those methods of self-defense based on proper techniques are different. Students training in those techniques will continue to develop their self-defense skills to higher and higher levels. It is not uncommon to find students in their 50's to 70's that have very effective self-defense skills. If you doubt this, I suggest that you read about some of the martial arts masters in the orient many years ago. History is full of stories about oriental masters of advanced age. There are many accounts of these masters and their powerful self-defense methods.

In my own training, I have found that my skills have improved greatly in the last few years. As I write this I am close to turning 53 years old. There is not doubt that my self-defense skills are better than they were 10 years ago. That is because I practice sensible, realistic, effective techniques. Regularly I find myself teaching younger martial artists. When training or teaching experienced younger martial artists, I find that it is easy for me to defend myself against their techniques. My ability to do this only gets better as I continue to train. It is not difficult to see me still training and teaching 20 or 30 years from now.

In 1990, I formed the U.S. Kempo And Jujitsu Federation. It’s purpose than and now is to teach the most effective methods of self-defense that I could. Along with that, I am able to offer additional training to individuals and instructors from other styles. Students and instructors from other styles can benefit without changing they way they are accustomed to doing things. The training they receive from me through my organization can serve to supplement the art or arts that they already practice. Instructors looking for an organization to support their martial arts school and their training are also welcome. It is my pleasure to share my knowledge with anyone that wishes to learn from me. However, my organization does not offer rank promotions to anyone that does not study my style of martial arts. That is to say that we will be happy to train others, but only those that are fully trained in my style are allowed to test through my organization. Not cross-grade ranks are given. Training must be done in person. Many organizations will allow students to study and train from videos. The U.S. Kempo And Jujitsu Federation trains students only on a face to face basis. To accomplish this, students must either attend classes, obtain private instruction, or attend seminars to learn our arts. Testing is done as needed and is not dependent on time in grade. Testing is done only when the student testing has the knowledge and ability to function at the level they are testing for.

If you are interested in training in our arts, attending a seminar, or hosting a seminar in your area, contact us for details.