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.
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.
posted by Charles B. Stanley at 2:46 PM
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