Saturday, May 20, 2006

Busted, or Maybe Just Cracked

Day 2 of the Motor City Comic Con, and we were anxious to see the results of yesterday's bust of the video pirates, which you can read more about here. As I got my wristband for the day, I glanced over at toward where one of the most egregious offenders had set up yesterday.

They were still there. Some of the stacks had been replaced by a spread of autographed 8x10 celebrity photos, but there was still quite a selection of bootleg television shows. He even had the "special 7-disc set" of the New Series Doctor Who (ninth Doctor)--a pirated version of the official BBC release of the season, complete with a large notice that the design of the pirated video case is trademarked (new definition of Chutzpah: trademarking your pirated videos). Across the convention center, the video pirates were still selling most of their wares. The only conspicuous absence was the pirated big studio feature films. According to one vendor caught in the raid, eleven of them were rounded up, taken in, and never arrested. They had their inventory confiscated, but were released without further punishment. Most were back in business today, minus the feature films. Apparently, the MPAA doesn't care about the television shows, including pirated Wuzzles.

No comments: