Another Free Model Piracy on eBay UK!!!

[Darth Windius]

This time, it's Leo from CardModels-R (Space flight paper modelling) which is the victim. This is the post which I found on Space-Paper-Models Yahoo Group:

Yahoo! Groups

If you can't or wan't to subscribe to this group, these are the two messages:

""
Re: [Space-Paper-Models] Pirated version of Leo's Energia-Buran??



On 9.1.2010 16:21, Son of Kong wrote:
> Gang,
>
> This link was posted in the Space Models Yahoo group. It sure looks to me like
a pirated version of Leo's work. Am I correct?
>
>
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RARE-Russian-Soviet-Model-Space-BURAN-Energiy-1-96_W0QQite\
\
>
mZ220535615552QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_ToysGames_Mode lKits_ModelKits_JN?hash=item33\
\
> 58f27040
>
> Les (Friendly Airplane ASylum & ex-NASA flack)

Les, you are correct. I've printed Buran and Energiya and I recognized printed
sheets as ones from Leo on the photo of this eBay item. Since it is stated he
offers paper model AND slide-show I suspect he may have also pirated buran.ru
DVD...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RARE-Russian-Soviet-Model-Space-BURAN-Energiy-1-96_W0QQite\
mZ220535615552QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_ToysGames_Mode lKits_ModelKits_JN?hash=item33\
58f27040
http://www.buran.ru/
Space flight paper modelling

Cheers,

Bostjan ""

And here is the link to the eBay post:

RARE Russian-Soviet Model Space "BURAN-Energiy" (1/96) on eBay (end time 03-Feb-10 18:19:50 GMT)

Can anybody help Leo please?

Thanks for him...

[John Bowden]

First link the item has been removed! Great job!

Second Link still listed........... as of this moment

[Darth Windius]

pirat has a whole list of USSR-related objects, books and so on on their list:

eBay Seller: kubanrumen: Collectables, Vehicle Parts Accessories items on eBay.co.uk

Surfing in this list, I found:

- Une copie pirate de Hobby Model N° 60 (Columbia Shuttle) - this one is copyrighted, is there still an official compagny in charge of Hobby Models?? - plus paper models of the ISS form R. Fortezza (anybody has his link, please??):

Paper International Space Station+Shuttle Model(1/100)! on eBay (end time 04-Feb-10 17:22:40 GMT)

- Des copies du Maly Modelarz de 1972 "Tupolev 144":

Real Paper model Soviet Supersonic "Tu-144"-BEST -1972! on eBay (end time 23-Jan-10 11:31:25 GMT)

I have not read all the list, they may be other surprises....

[airdave]

Is this guy selling a printed model?
There isn't any info in the listing about what you get for $30plus dollars, but it looks like you get a printed model
not just the downloaded files.

If this is the case, he may be able to get away with this.
Even though he doesn't actually have permission to re-distribute this "freely downloaded model"
he hasn't made any claims regarding its ownership,
and is technically selling the printed version (paper, ink and his labour).

Why doesn't Leo contact the seller and ask him to remove the item?
That would be the first action.
If the seller refuses to do so, then he could report it to ebay.

Looks like most of this guys stuff (while very expensive) is legit
although I do see a couple of pirated items in there!

[Darth Windius]

Originally Posted by airdave

Is this guy selling a printed model?
There isn't any info in the listing about what you get for $30plus dollars, but it looks like you get a printed model
not just the downloaded files.

If this is the case, he may be able to get away with this.
Even though he doesn't actually have permission to re-distribute this "freely downloaded model"
he hasn't made any claims regarding its ownership,
and is technically selling the printed version (paper, ink and his labour).

Why doesn't Leo contact the seller and ask him to remove the item?
That would be the first action.
If the seller refuses to do so, then he could report it to ebay.

Leo's work is send on a DVD, with a pirated Bran video. So, it is the electronic version that is selled, not a printed version.

And even a printed version will not be this price!!!!!

And as for eBay UK, they have been other case, and they never react, as they earn money on each sell... except in one case of a pirat selling Canon free models!!! An e-mail to Canon was enough (read the Uhu's Fantastic Voyage thread by Gixerg Uhu02 Fantastic Voyage

[airdave]

Ebay will not ignore the rightful owner of the property,
he is the one who should contact them first.

Ebay makes plenty of money from legitimate sales,
don't assume they will not act against illegal activity.

Has the owner contacted them?

In the earlier Canon Models case you refer to,
I was the one who contacted the seller and informed them that they were selling pirated models
and that Canon would be informed also.
They removed the particular items immediately.
Sometimes, a simple request might do the trick...its definately the place to start.

[jparenti]

I just saw the thread, but I had reported the postings to eBay the day I saw the posting on the Yahoo group. eBay seemed cooperative and assured me they'd look into it. As an aside, I gave them the link to Leo's site so they could see what I meant.
I am a HUGE fan of Leo's work, so I was pretty angry when I saw this. Hopefully we can knock this guy down and he'll stop selling other people's work. Honestly, a lot of what we call "pirates" are just misguided people. I personally have seen a few people take their listing down when I pointed out what they were doing and why they shouldn't do it. And that was without even contacting eBay.
Unfortunately, that kind of case proves to be the exception and not the rule. :(

[paulhbell]

I think you'll find that a lot of us have already reported this guy to ebay, but he just ignores us. Also why is the thread title saying that it's from ebayUK, all the items are actually from 'Yeisk, Krasnodar region, Russian Federation', which I do believe isn't part of the UK.

As for the other guy that tried to sell UHU's and Canon's models, he was based in the UK. And quite a few of us jumped on him, reported him to ebay and Canon. He withdrew all his auctions. Canon sent emails to the seller demanding he remove them. I haven't seen that seller on ebay since.

So the moral of the story is basically don't even think about selling or offering or free models from our friends on here, zealot, ecardmodels and our respected designers, Alfonso, Claudio, Jay, Jules and a lot of others. There is a lot of us scanning round the download sites, forums, blogs and ebay. We will find whoever is doing the piracy and we will shut you down. Some may take longer than others, but we are winning.

[Ekuth]

Ditto that. I will prosecute and persecute pirates with extreme prejudice and I watch who downloads what on zealot very very closely. That includes logging IP addresses...

[Lex]

Erm are Leo's models released only via Zealot though?