Pirated Amiga software on ebay

[runequester]

Considering there's plenty of people selling bootleg dvd's, cd's and copies of games currently being sold, I doubt ebay is getting too fussed about someone selling a bootleg copy of Turrican or whatever.


Im somewhat amused.. some guy keeps offering up A1200's with compact flash hard drives and, according to the auctions, 1000's of games installed with whdload.

Somehow doubt he bought all of those..

[orb85750]

"Due to unforseen circumstances this listing will not be relisted."  WTF??  Have any of you contacted the seller and threatened his family or something?  Or is this the seller's way of trying to get a mad rush of buyers?

[LoadWB]

Considering there's plenty of people selling bootleg dvd's, cd's and copies of games currently being sold, I doubt ebay is getting too fussed about someone selling a bootleg copy of Turrican or whatever.

Wrong is wrong is wrong.  It is immaterial whether the issue at hand is an illegitimate copy of "Portal" or "Turrican."

Im somewhat amused.. some guy keeps offering up A1200's with compact flash hard drives and, according to the auctions, 1000's of games installed with whdload.

Somehow doubt he bought all of those..

Probably not.  And it is just as much of an issue as a copy of "Portal" on a modded PS3.  Wrong is still wrong.

[runequester]

Wrong is wrong is wrong.  It is immaterial whether the issue at hand is an illegitimate copy of "Portal" or "Turrican."



Probably not.  And it is just as much of an issue as a copy of "Portal" on a modded PS3.  Wrong is still wrong.

Thats not what I meant though. The odds of ebay really getting up in arms are pretty remote.

Heck, the odds of the actual rights holders if they still exist are probably remote. How many ROM sites are out there for old console games ?

Unless there's a big company breathing down their neck, like you see with youtube, nobody is going to bother.

[fishy_fiz]

"Due to unforseen circumstances this listing will not be relisted."  WTF??  Have any of you contacted the seller and threatened his family or something?  Or is this the seller's way of trying to get a mad rush of buyers?

It may be because of my message to him, in which I simply suggested he remove the item due to it's illegal nature, and that if he didnt I'd be informing the copyright holders (well, words to that effect). It was all fairly diplomatic from both ends though. To be honest I actually feel a bit bad about it, from my limited contact he seemed a decent enough guy, but at the end of the day these sort of sales still irk me.... life holds no exceptions just because someone may not be an asshole.

[LoadWB]

Thats not what I meant though. The odds of ebay really getting up in arms are pretty remote.

I knew what you meant. My point was (supposedly) from eBay's perspective, that copyright infringement is copyright infringement, irrespective of the color.

[Crom00]

Ebays system is kind of a joke. I sold a PS1 to a guy who decided he didn't want it when I refused a refund he told ebay the auction contained several pirated games (all games were commercial) so ebay refunded the money and he kept the PS1.

Another time I totally won an auction then 2 seconds later I went to hit the the pay now button someone else had won. I hit the back button on my browser and took a screen grab of my winning page. When I presented the evidence they came out of left field and chastised me for having illegal software on my machine. You see I was doing graphics in a gfx department at the time and had every legitamate copy of gfx software out there in my dock. These application icons were clarly visible in the dock. Ebay of course didn't answer my emails after that... Pretty pathetic actually.

So I have no sympathy if they got sued for selling copied items... well you know what ?maybe they have... they make so much money with the monopoly they have on auctions perhaps they can absorb the legal costs associated with copyright violations.

[Franko]

Just been thinking... why do we all get so worked up about copyright infringement, Amiga Vs PC etc... etc...

I mean does any of the views or opinions we all express here really matter or have an effect on anything that goes on in the world...

Were Born, We Live, We Die...

Everything we do in life for 99% of us is really nothing more than passing the time until the day comes when we kick the bucket. All the things we've said and done soon gets lost forever with the passage of time.

Having said that and if nothing really matters, then I say sod the moral majority and the Amiga Copyright Mafia, lets all start flouting the copyright laws, lets all overload ebay with pirated software and argue the toss about which machines the best, at least it passes the time until we all meet the inevitable...

[stefcep2]

If you can't buy the software NEW then the copyright owner can never receive payment.  The only time they copyright owner gets paid is when they do a wholesale sell to the retailer.  Or if they sell it to you directly.

If the copyright owner can never receive payment, they can't ever have "lost money" for their hard work.

 Its why software distributers don't like second hand traders like EB.  Copyright owners would love it if software was tied to a single machine forever, and not by licence agreements but by some physical means (even better if it was tied to the same person on the same machine).  That way no second hand sales would be possible.

Maybe its morally wrong.

Reality is I'd wager 90% of people on this forum and anyone who owns a computer has at least ONE piece of software the copyright hasn't been paid for.  And probably a lot more.

[stefcep2]

Just been thinking... why do we all get so worked up about copyright infringement, Amiga Vs PC etc... etc...

I mean does any of the views or opinions we all express here really matter or have an effect on anything that goes on in the world...

Were Born, We Live, We Die...

Everything we do in life for 99% of us is really nothing more than passing the time until the day comes when we kick the bucket. All the things we've said and done soon gets lost forever with the passage of time.

Having said that and if nothing really matters, then I say sod the moral majority and the Amiga Copyright Mafia, lets all start flouting the copyright laws, lets all overload ebay with pirated software and argue the toss about which machines the best, at least it passes the time until we all meet the inevitable...

You know i sometimes think about the (probable) years of my life that I have spent on forums like this engaing in debates like this certain in the knowledge it will amount to naught.

[LoadWB]

You know i sometimes think about the (probable) years of my life that I have spent on forums like this engaing in debates like this certain in the knowledge it will amount to naught.

Given that attitude, might as well just put a gun to your head, mate, and sod ever coming to a different perspective or maybe swaying others to see yours.  Seriously, discussion and debate in any forum or venue is valuable.  With the exception of trolls and trolling, which qualify as neither discussion nor debate.

Personally, I am not here to while away my time before I become worm food.  I am here to participate, exchange information, exchange interpretations and perspectives with others, maybe even learn something.

Anyone who cannot get into the swing thereof, or has some despotic stance against, really should just delete his or her account and head off elsewhere.  Or just lurk more and wag your head back and forth about the morons wasting time talking to each other.  I mean, sheesh, stupid humans.

[RussellB]

There is another large batch of Amiga CDs been listed on Ebay UK which all come on CDRs.  That has been sold on ebay for many years by an ex Epic Marketing employee.

[mdv2000]

What I find intriguing about all of this - is that the selling of pirated software on ebay is playing into the hands of the politicans who want to start increasing control over sites like ebay.  There is a politcal push to require proof of original purchase before posting an item on ebay.  Also, some states have actively looked into how to charge SALES TAX on any auctioned item - even thought the sales tax was paid when it was originally purchased.  All of these examples of illegal software sales will just add fuel to the fire.

Unfortunately, for 90% of the stuff I sold on ebay over the years - I did not have the original receipt.  I have a Commodore 64 my parents bought me for Christmas and never even saw the receipt.    

Also, software is going to digital licensing to your account.  Soon we will only be able to get it via Steam for PC or PSN/Xbox Live distro.  The days of buying software at the store is going away.  The days of buying used console games will come to an end within 5-10 years too.  

Oh well, just get ready to have to spend a lot more than ever before to obtain media (games, music, books) etc in the future.

[ElPolloDiabl]

I'll just reinforce my use it or lose it stance. If something copyright is not available for sale, then after a couple of years they should lose the rights to it.

[Franko]

Hmm... so you think you know about copyright, there's a 7 Question quiz on the UK Governments Official Intellectual Property Office site.

Strange thing is I've just scored 7 out of 7 on it mainly due to the fact that the questions really only require some common sense answers.

But when you actually read through all the laws on copyright there, common sense seems to go straight out the window...

Why not give it a go, and see how you fare...

http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/copy/c-quiz.htm

[_ThEcRoW]

Seems that people have too much spare time... How many of the whiners about that auction have never pirated anything?. For fucks sake, these are games that no longer sells.