Dealing with People Selling Fan Projects

How we gonna deal with these people? They seem to be multiplying daily.

Taking the topic away from the Despecialized thread.
 

Other than links to the likes of ebay, etsy and similar auctions… please do not link to - or name - websites selling the Despecialized Editions & other fan projects that feature here - they can easily be misinterpreted as adverts or endorsements. Thank you.
 

Useful links:

DVD-BOY said:

• ReportPiracy@mpaa.org
• https://www.stopfakes.gov/article?id=Reporting-a-Retailer-Selling-Fakes
• contact@fact-uk.org.uk
• https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/fraud_protection/counterfeit_goods
• http://takedownpiracy.com/tips/ - haven’t heard of these people before…

Moderator Edit…

Harmy has put up a video on youtube - just to remind everyone that…

‘Fan Edits must never be bought or sold’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrwKZHv4OS0

^ Personally, as a member here, I’d encourage everyone to watch it and up-vote that video.

 
 
The ’How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com - some info & answers to members’ queries thread in the General Assistance section of the site may also be of interest for alternatives, possibilities, ideas and choices for those who wish to acquire the Despecialized Editions (and other projects) - but think they may not have the necessary equipment required, believe they do not possess the technical know-how to obtain them, or are mistaken in that certain projects may not be available to acquire…

Some previous discussions and info threads on fan projects being sold on ebay and other similar sites:-

eBay sellers - a rant - 2004 thread

Stop ebay pirates - 2004 thread

Did i get the right original preservation DVD’s? (from ebay) - 2005 thread

A year ago I spent $80 on ebay… and a year later I found this site. - 2005 thread

How do you report projects illegally sold on eBay? - 2006 thread

a Big bust at the Motor City Comic Con - bootleg sellers - 2006 thread

preservation project for sale on ebay? Oh dear - 2006 thread

Your work is being sold - 2007 thread

An eBay chump selling the goods for profit… 😦 - 2010 thread

I second this man.

This is the third time I am thinking about reporting something to the FBI - one case was a peado website, one was an asshole selling DVDs of Live Aid 85. They have a bunch of nice forms on their website, but I have no clue if it’s a good idea or it would do more harm than good (exposing “us” together with “him”)

Don’t worry, pittrek. Fan edits and to be specific, Harmy’s despecialized edition, is something Lucasfilm, Disney (and Fox for that matter) are already aware of. This site and several others on the net would’ve been lawyered out of existence long ago if they had the intention to do so. Disney sued a kindergarten that had a hand-painted Mickey Mouse on its wall a few years ago, if they want something gone then it’ll get dealt with. Reporting scumbags who are profiting from selling their copyrighted material, whatever the source is, can only do good and will discourage others in the future.

Besides, Lucasfilm can’t acknowledge Despecialized, or by extension, the fan editors who created it or the sites they use, without dropping themselves right into the awkwardness of talking about the OUT - which is something they are deliberately not doing.

It’s small enough to not be affecting revenue at the moment but that could change if more people begin dealing in custom sets, especially on the open marketplaces like eBay.

I say report them, report them a lot.

NeverarGreat said:

This is getting to the point where people will just stop making fan projects, if they know that their work will just end up being sold for a profit. I was considering sending a message to that website saying something along these lines:

‘Greetings from a fellow fan of Star Wars. I noticed that you are selling the Despecialized edition of Star Wars version 2.7. I am currently working on an updated color correction, to be used for Despecialized 3.0. It’s been a labor of love, demanding literally hundreds of days of work over the course of several years, and a close collaboration between members of a large and vibrant online community. Our community of faneditors and fan preservationists exists solely because of a culture of trust and goodwill, and the understanding that these projects will not be sold online. However, since I now know that my work will almost certainly be illegally sold for a profit, I have to think very carefully about whether to release my work at all. Your website may very well result in no new Despecialized editions, ever. Understand that when you profit off of our work, you are very effectively destroying both our work and our community. If you are truly a fan of Star Wars, you will take down this website. Thank you.’

Send it. If this keeps on, well so be it, if I was the one making the DEED then I’d take down everything. Hopefully that won’t happen.

The only other way around it is to literally make it so easily available freely that everyone would find their way to the free versions rather than thinking they have to pay for it. How you would do that I’m not sure (get sites to do feature articles?) or if it would then get too much attention from Disney and Fox.

Shithouse situation to be sure and it must be so demoralising for the creators of such labors of love 😕

.Val

Valheru_84 said:

The only other way around it is to literally make it so easily available freely that everyone would find their way to the free versions rather than thinking they have to pay for it. How you would do that I’m not sure (get sites to do feature articles?) or if it would then get too much attention from Disney and Fox.

Shithouse situation to be sure and it must be so demoralising for the creators of such labors of love 😕

.Val

Public torrent tracker, If TPB can do it then this community can do it. Disney would’ve shut this down a long time ago and if they do they will get the message that there’s a high demand for the unaltered Star Wars OT.

NeverarGreat said:

While we need to do a better job at directing new members towards important information (see here for my suggestion), there will still be the problem of people unwilling/unable to burn the blu-rays and create custom sets. For those people, buying these things may be the only way they get their hands on them. And that’s a big problem.

Any solution not involving money would be quite a hassle, and the best thing I can think of is a system wherein the party requesting the blu-ray would be required to purchase their own blank blu-ray discs and send them in a package containing their copy of the relevant 2011 Blu-ray discs (as proof of purchase) and enough postage for sending it all back.

A dilemma indeed, but for most I believe easy access to the digital copy (mkv, mp4, etc.) would be good enough for most people, but the people who want a proper custom box set is the tricky part.

I think we just need to make sure that the first post in the thread you find when you google “Star Wars Despecialized” has CLEAR instructions on how to get it. Yes, it takes some searching, but if we made that even easier for someone they wouldn’t just give up and pay these jerks money.

You can send him a message without an authentic email. I just did. Perhaps if we bombard his inbox, he’ll get the message.

The G said:

NeverarGreat said:

This is getting to the point where people will just stop making fan projects, if they know that their work will just end up being sold for a profit. I was considering sending a message to that website saying something along these lines:

‘Greetings from a fellow fan of Star Wars. I noticed that you are selling the Despecialized edition of Star Wars version 2.7. I am currently working on an updated color correction, to be used for Despecialized 3.0. It’s been a labor of love, demanding literally hundreds of days of work over the course of several years, and a close collaboration between members of a large and vibrant online community. Our community of faneditors and fan preservationists exists solely because of a culture of trust and goodwill, and the understanding that these projects will not be sold online. However, since I now know that my work will almost certainly be illegally sold for a profit, I have to think very carefully about whether to release my work at all. Your website may very well result in no new Despecialized editions, ever. Understand that when you profit off of our work, you are very effectively destroying both our work and our community. If you are truly a fan of Star Wars, you will take down this website. Thank you.’

Send it. If this keeps on, well so be it, if I was the one making the DEED then I’d take down everything. Hopefully that won’t happen.

stealthboy said:

I think we just need to make sure that the first post in the thread you find when you google “Star Wars Despecialized” has CLEAR instructions on how to get it. Yes, it takes some searching, but if we made that even easier for someone they wouldn’t just give up and pay these jerks money.

I agree.

The G said:

A dilemma indeed, but for most I believe easy access to the digital copy (mkv, mp4, etc.) would be good enough for most people, but the people who want a proper custom box set is the tricky part.

Well, if Disney officially published the blu-ray of the original trilogy, with a beautiful packaging, the problem would be solved!
IMHO, if we let these ebayers (like this “LDSEntertainment”) sell the original trilogy at such a price, it will put a little more pressure on Disney and Lucasfilm to release it officially.

The only thing we can do is advise Disney/Lucasfim, and let them solve this issue (which is as much their issue as ours).

ZigZig said:

The G said:

A dilemma indeed, but for most I believe easy access to the digital copy (mkv, mp4, etc.) would be good enough for most people, but the people who want a proper custom box set is the tricky part.

Well, if Disney officially published the blu-ray of the original trilogy, with a beautiful packaging, the problem would be solved!
IMHO, if we let these ebayers (like this “LDSEntertainment”) sell the original trilogy at such a price, it will put a little more pressure on Disney and Lucasfilm to release it officially.

The only thing we can do is advise Disney/Lucasfim, and let them solve this issue (which is as much their issue as ours).

A petition perhaps? I’m pretty sure there are many petitions about the same thing so I don’t see how Harmy can get the attention of Disney.

It was bound to become a problem sooner or later, people have been selling illegal copies of “song of the south” and “the keep” for the same old profit based rule supply and demand. Unfortunately there’s not a whole lot that we can do about it though.

NeverarGreat said:

I feel like this can’t be a good idea. If these companies felt like the fan projects were becoming a problem (for example being sold for profit), I don’t think they would be very discriminating in their retribution. Everyone would be at risk.

I agree completely. Reporting these clowns directly to Ebay is one thing, but attracting Disney/Fox’s attention to this community would, in my view, be unwise. It just needs the wrong person over there to get involved - someone who takes a particularly dim view on the restoration/fan projects here - and OT in its current form could be shut down.

Bluto

Complaining about people who sell fan projects is a big waste of time, and is flirting with disaster, IMO.

Its like you are growing pot in your basement and giving it out for free to your circle of close friends. Then you find out someone that got some of your free pot is selling it and making a profit off of your hard work. So what do you do? You call up the local newspapers, police, etc. and complain that there are people selling your freely distributed pot…AH HELLO?

Come on people, soon the police are bound to get the clue and come knocking at your door to see all of your free pot for themselves…

Either keep giving away free pot or don’t but please stop broadcasting your displeasure to the whole world. The scum that sell this stuff will never be caught, but it is us that will eventually pay the price for bitching about too loudly.

Again just my opinion.

confusedgambler said:

Complaining about people who sell fan projects is a big waste of time, and is flirting with disaster, IMO.

Its like you are growing pot in your basement and giving it out for free to your circle of close friends. Then you find out someone that got some of your free pot is selling it and making a profit off of your hard work. So what do you do? You call up the local newspapers, police, etc. and complain that there are people selling your freely distributed pot…AH HELLO?

Come on people, soon the police are bound to get the clue and come knocking at your door to see all of your free pot for themselves…

Either keep giving away free pot or don’t but please stop broadcasting your displeasure to the whole world. The scum that sell this stuff will never be caught, but it is us that will eventually pay the price for bitching about too loudly.

Again just my opinion.

That’s actually a very good point. And let’s face it, when has complaining ever accomplished anything good?

Who has the pot? I am asking for a friend of mine…

SilverWook said:

Please, nobody get any funny ideas and write Disney/Lucasfilm as if you’re a spokesperson for this site. In fact, don’t mention us at all.

Did I present myself as a a spokesperson for this site, or did I say that I will write to Disney? I just gave my opinion (“IMHO”) in a forum (which is the best place to share opinionS, isn’t it ?).
No need to be rude please.

one69chev said:

Who has the pot? I am asking for a friend of mine…

I think I would characterize us more as acquaintances