The Energon Pub

[zero-kaiser]

c) all the members of sites they ripped off go after them like anon did to eBaum. (yes that would be fun, but i don't condone it as 2 wrongs don't make a right)

I did think of something I'd read about a while ago, about a DDoS attack... BUT!!.. granny Zero always said the problem with 'an eye for an eye' is that everyone ends up blind..

If the folks who built/run the sites that this place as ripped images from, contact either the site itself, or the company hosting it/renting servers to them/how ever it works.. I'm sure something can be done about it.

I hope so anyway!!

[Stormrider]

I do own the copyrights to the photos that I have spent thousands of hours working on over the past 5 years. The photos belong exclusively to me, I'm not quite sure I understand what you are insinuating.

I am not insinuating anything, I am talking about your legal rights given that your photography (which you own) is of molds owned by hasbro and takara. That may contain a grey area legally that could be argued against you, I am not sure.

looking to help, not somehow undermine the work you put into the galleries, I am not sure how you inferred that from what I posted.

Whatever, seeing as the site is in china, I doubt there will be any recourse as other posters have pointed out.

I don't think it should matter in this case if that he's taking pictures of Transformers. He's paid for the Transformers, they are his property at this point. It wouldn't be any different than taking a picture of a statue, an apple, or a cereal box. He doesn't need consent from Hasbro to take pictures only for reproducing the figure.

Ryan, have you considered talking with TFW and TFormers? Since all three of you are affected, perhaps you could combine your efforts. The only other suggestion I have would affect their site.

[Prime Riblet]

It really is a bad deal. It is so hard to deal with legal issues on the internet, and then the fact that it is a Chinese entity doing this just makes it so much more difficult. I seriously doubt you will be able to do much, but you certainly need to spend some time with a lawyer and discuss it. I am very disappointed that you are having this problem though. All the galleries on this site are top notch, and you should absolutely be getting compensation for your efforts-so it's really a huge rip-off if you can't get that. Good luck to you on this matter.

[Bonger]

I'm not a lawyer, but I've taken all the mandatory MBA law classes.

Ofcourse, consult with an international IP lawyer to confirm whether you have any recourse.

However, I'm pretty positive you have no hope in a court of law as China does not enforce IP rights and the lawyer's fees would just be a waste of your money.

Also, even if they did enforce IP law, would you be willing to pay for a case to be pursued a few thousand miles away? I reckon if it was possible to do so, Hasbro and countless other US companies would not have the issues they are having with Chinese counterfeiters.

It is an unfortunate situation, but I fear the damage is already done. Maybe you can talk to some techies and come up with a way of preventing people from copying photographs from your site in the future.

Good luck, and I hope I am mistaken about Chinese IP law.

P.S. Any photographs of public property, person or purchased property is the photographer's IP.

[Counterpunch]

Hackers.

Release the hounds.

[Sid Burn]

I don't think it should matter in this case if that he's taking pictures of Transformers. He's paid for the Transformers, they are his property at this point. It wouldn't be any different than taking a picture of a statue, an apple, or a cereal box. He doesn't need consent from Hasbro to take pictures only for reproducing the figure.

I am curious if that is the case, seeing as Ryan makes money (I assume) from the site, could that fact be argued. I am totally guessing here, but lawyers can always find a way to argue a point.

Similar to all these custom TF add ons, could hasbro sue them? Do they look the other way because it is actually beneficial to them?

[Optimist_Prime]

Hey Ryan, just as many others have said here China has virtually no copyright laws. This could be a very tough battle to win.

However, like Editor suggested, if there any members who are fluent in Mandarin Chinese and could assist Ryan in Translating e-mails incase there is a language barrier.

I also agree that checking with a copyrights lawyer probably wouldn't hurt any. Good luck with whatever you do.

[Editor]

If you can Ryan, I would talk will any of the other people this site is ripping off, just to see if they have already started looking at potential legal recourse.

Just taking a quick look at the site last nioght once I got home, I seriously could not believe the level of theft on the site. Whoever is running it is likely making a bit of coin from all the ads, while using a ton of work from you and others. If contacting him or his provider isn't working than maybe contacting the companies on his page might be a viable course of action.

Between all the product shots from you and others, taking all the avatar gifs from (argh I had him name in my head a minute ago and i'm blanking) reprinting TCC Timeline pages and all the comic covers likely lifted from TFWiki. Heck I'm surprized he hasn't lifed the box art from Botch, or bits from Reprolabels.