When you have a franchise as popular as Super Mario or Pokémon, chances are that someone out there will try to illegally make a profit from your creations. Doing so can obviously result in some pretty major ramifications, and one man has found that out the hard way recently.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has revealed that the owner of an El Monte toy import business has been charged with manufacturing and possessing more than $1.4 million in counterfeit goods. The two Nintendo franchises mentioned above were targetted, alongside others like Hello Kitty, Angry Birds, and Lego Ninjago to name a few.
The man in question is Wan Piao who has been charged with seven felony counts of counterfeit offences including an allegation of "taking more than $500,000 through fraud and embezzlement". He has been accused of manufacturing and possessing more than 500,000 knock-off items including plush toys and playing cards and could face up to 12 years in custody.
Thinking about ripping off Nintendo? Yeah, don't.
[source da.lacounty.gov, via animenewsnetwork.com]
Comments 32
I hope he was read his (copy) rights.
ELAINE: Ah! (explaining, with hand gestures) How 'bout this? How about, he's
thinking of quitting the exporting, and just focussing in on the importing. And
this is causing a problem, because, why not do both?
Well, if Nintendo aren't going to manufacture older Amiibos anymore then let someone else do it.
If this was using nintendo characters in a 'fan' made game then nintendolife would be promoting it. It's the same thing....
@dew12333
yep . the double standards of nintendo life.
"But I was just making toys! That makes kids happy (and me rich)! Surely Nintendo won't have me put in jail for that?!"
This is a non-violent crime of copyright infringement and I do think 12 years in prison sounds unreasonable, so I hope the judge and jury won't let it come to that.
@suikoden @dew12333 I understand your point, but it is definitely different. Fan made games are generally not sold for a profit or for any kind of monetary gain. This guy was just ripping off someone else’s IP purely for financial gain.
And on the topic of whether or not NintendoLife should cover things like this or fan made games that might encounter copyright issues the answer is yes. They are a video game news site, which means anything related to video games is fair game.
You can be sure their much bigger and better funded competitors cover this stuff and get clicks and ad revenue as a result. Why should NintendoLife miss out?
I don't understand why there has to be an article about one guy who did this. In Mexico this happens everywhere and everyday. Not something I'm proud of, just pointing out that I don't get why this is something worth of even mentioning.
Serves a grown man right for playing with toys!
I'm glad and I hope that people that keep doing this goes to jail.next they need to go after pirates...
@RandomNerds
I'm sorry but it is the same, it doesn't matter if you are making money or not it is still illegal. Making a 'fan' made game and then not selling it makes them more stupid than this now rich person, and while they may not gain money from what they have done i'm still sure they gain notoriety, which may lead to good things for them. All whilst using somebody else's property in a way that they may not want them too. The people that make 'fan' made games particularly annoy me as they generally have the same attitude as you regarding the situation. Also just like this website who actively promote the people and therefore give them less reason to have to make money because they are given ' press' for what they have done.
Sorry to edit, what are you saying that Nintendolife would be missing out on then? Clicks!!!!
@RandomNerds
I wouldn't really question NintendoLife's good reasoning in carrying this news item, but since you ask for reasons NOT to, I can think of a few.
This isn't video games. It's not even about video game related toys and their qualities. It's about a business man being caught illegally manufacturing a few handfuls of video game related plastic figurines. It is a tertiary news story at best, regardless of which other sites manage to wring ad-revenue out of it.
A way of improving the relevancy to the readership here could, as an example, be getting hold of some of the figurines in question, and identifying their qualities (or lack thereof), possibly even providing some guidelines for how to avoid them.
Who gives a monkeys about the copyright, the real danger here is that these counterfeit goods won't be safety tested and could potentially injure or kill a kid when it inevitably ends up in their hands.
@RandomNerds in addition to the “for profit” angle, games made by fans as tributes will generally call out the fact it is a fan made product. People who download the games know it’s not an official item.
Fakes for toys are very often intended to deceive consumers by mimicking original packaging and looking legitimate, so not only are they making money of the IP, they’re often deceiving consumers who may not be aware they are bootlegged items. Not only is Nintendo hurt but also unwilling customers.
@Pod I agree, he should spend no time in prison. Instead he should be forced to pay many times what he made.
In our system though he will probably spend years in prison, but be allowed to keep the profit. So all the courts will have done is reduced his pay per hour.
The police arrested a man today who was selling counterfeit Mario and Pokemon merchandise. A customer had called the police after buying a toy and noticed it was made in China. As we all know that all toys come from Japan, the customer realized this was a replica and not an authentic toy. Police made a statement earlier stating that making and/or selling counterfeit items is big no no and the penalty is automatic death penalty. Police also mentioned that the man made a boo-boo in trying to tell the police he didn't know the toys were made in china as he doesn't know how to read. In any case, this will serve as an example to others.
I'm not one to usually support death sentences, but in this case I believe it is well deserved
@dew12333 keyword: "profiting"
@dew12333 I think it's different (just my opinion) but totally agree both are illegal (usually), so I suppose we agree about the core issue.
And yes, NintendoLife would be missing out on clicks, which is revenue for them in most cases. But you know what? Put that aside.
Crimes within the Gaming community are gaming news and therefore gaming sites should cover them. And why is the assumption that media coverage helps them? Perhaps a lot of people have been brought to justice because they received so much attention. Traditional media outlets are often the the reason criminals finally get brought down.
I've seen both arguments here, "Ugh thanks for writing about this, now they're are going to get a cease and desist letter." and "Ugh thanks for writing about this, now they're going to make so much money breaking the law."
In the end it is news, and this is a news site that covers Video Games.
@dew12333 Me drawing a Mario doodle in a piece of paper is not ilegal for example.. Its a fan art, legal and in fair use.
You are closer to breaking the law (probably not) by using an image of Didi Kong in your user avatar without consent of the copyright holder.... You felon!
This looks more like a civil case. I don't see the point in detaining someone over this.
@DrDaisy nope the guy deserves to spend time in prison for illegal selling knockoffs without permission and top it all off those knockoff items having been tested to see their safe or not.
@ryancraddock When is Nintendo Life going to start profiling the Etsy creators ripping off Nintendo's intellectual property for profit, or is that off limits since Nintendo Life gets affiliate link money for referring people to Etsy thieves?
@DrDaisy Import/Export things are federal. Copyright things are federal.
@dew12333 Go back to reddit.
Let's get Facts straight here - IP violations is a violation and Copyright Violation is a violation. Make Amiibos without NIN approval violates both of the rules.
@RandomNerds Profit or not, it's still infringing on Nintendo's intellectual properties and the company is right to take action against unauthorized products. Dew is right. It's a double standard to agree with Nintendo when it comes to counterfeit products yet justify certain fan games on the basis of monetary motivation or the lack of it.
Fine. Whatever. I don't care anymore. The entire planet's gonna be scorched in a few years anyway, and the few remaining people on the left and right will put all the blame on each other until they die from radiation poisoning or battle wounds. No one will care about a few counterfeit toys.
He was making some good money!
@bert0503 Then he can probably afford a good attorney... Unless the money gets confiscated.
@Zequio NL Oh my god, I am!!! (NL might do a story on me)
@tobsesta99 Don't do reddit, twitter, facebook or any of them things, too many people like you on there....
@RandomNerds I don't have any problem with this story, I guess it's just their double standards. But then we all have them
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