Street Pirates Selling Fake Spider-Man 3 Disks
This is too funny. As we all know Piracy in China is a problem… no doubt. So it came as no surprise when we all heard the other day that copies of Spider-Man 3 were already in circulation in the DVD pirate shops over there. And get this… they’re going for about $1. That’s quite a deal.
However, those thinking that they were getting themselves a sweet deal on the street would later arrive home… pop in the newly bought disk… only to get a little surprise. The good folks over at Yahoo News give us this:
A copy bought for 10 yuan — a little over $1 — came with the vendor’s caveat that it was “not good quality.” When played in a DVD machine, the screen showed a 2001 television movie “Earth vs. The Spider” starring Dan Aykroyd as a detective investigating the case of a spider-like killer.
HAHA!!!! Holy crap that’s hilarious! And what are you going to do about it? Call the cops? “Officer!! Officer!!! I tried to buy a pirated DVD off that dude over there… and he ripped me off!”. Good luck with that… let me know how life is like inside a Chinese prison. HA! Earth vs. The Spider!
1. Rick King replies at 26th April 2007, 4:46 pm :
That is funny! Hopefully this is a sign the Chinese gov’t is starting to crack down on copyright violations.
It is disturbing that *anything* in China can be copied, anything from DVDs to baby formula.
Does anyone have a theory why there is so many intellectual-property violations in China? I wonder if its because China is a communist country, and the people do what they can to survive.
Quick Fact: In 2005, the Bush Administration filed zero cases to the World Trade Organization for intellectual-property violations. In the same report, the Clinton Administration filed 14 cases for intellectual-property violations.
2. Kristina replies at 26th April 2007, 5:31 pm :
The funniest thing is, the studio opened it in Asia first to AVOID pirating. When they did that, I busted out laughing. It’s not just China, either. I’ve been to Tokyo, Japan for study abroad a few summers ago, and there are bootleg videos on EVERY CORNER for you to buy. That is not an exaggeration. The level of pirating over there is insane, and the bootlegs look so damn professional. I remmeber my roomate Alice bought a bootleg of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory while we were there, and that shit was PRISTINE picture quality. But if studios want to know why bootleggers are making so much money lately, here’s the equation:
High ticket prices+Low quality of current releases=my ass buying a bootleg.
3. 0n3_guy replies at 26th April 2007, 10:22 pm :
Meh… so this sort of things is news to you? In any country where the piracy is high this is bound to happen from time to time. Ocasionally you might buy something, then get home and discover that it’s actually something different. In this case you just go back and tell the guy he made an error and he will exchange it for the right thing - this is how it’s usually done in my country. However, if the guy is a jackass and screws people for a living, changing places often so you won’t find him, the price you paid for the item was extremely low anyway, so it’s not a big deal. Do you think that even chinese people care for $1?
Also, it happened to me two or three times to pay for something and get something else - and it was actually a good thing. I was too lazy to return the items and had a closer look at them. One was a game that otherwise I would have never bought and which proved to be great; I also got some discs with software that proved to be extremely useful.
By the way, even our president admitted in an interview that the software piracy elevated the country and made us what we are. Also, half of the american movies and TV series are never released here (mainly because the TV stations and theater chains are run by idiots); yet most of the people have seen them thanks to the internet and the pirates.
4. Blackrobe replies at 26th April 2007, 11:00 pm :
Having lived in China and Korea and now Taiwan I can tell you straight up the “Copyright” means “the right to copy” in Asia. That being said it is always a crap product. Coming home with something other than you purchased is not unusual and often the vendors will have a portable DVD player if you insist on checking it.
Personally when I buy a DVD (legal) I am not buying it for the movie so much as I am for the extra’s (behind the scenes and such). However if you want a good laugh buy a bootleg and watch it with the subtitles on…I saw a copy of King Kong where ever other word was “Fuck” in English and Chinese.
5. Kristina replies at 26th April 2007, 11:46 pm :
Copyright=the right to copy!
Somebody make that a t-shirt with a graphic of a guy taping in the theater:)
6. Phil Gee replies at 27th April 2007, 12:36 am :
Amen Kristina:)
If Spidey 3 was available already, we would have had to admit that there is a serious problem to contend with here that is a real threat to box office on blockbusters. Frankly, it wouldn’t suprise me if the MPAA were quite content to have this bogus story circulate, if you know what i mean.
7. Kaneda979 replies at 28th April 2007, 10:45 am :
LOL, awesome joke. I wanna shake the dude’s hand that came up with this idea. >_LOL, awesome joke. I wanna shake the dude’s hand that came up with this idea. >_<