It's funny that you should accuse others of false moral and hypocrisy.
By the way, what are you still doing here? Go worry about the important things.

Most people seem to think 'manufacturers' are big companies that can afford to lose a little money through counterfeiting

The FACT is that most producers, especially resin producers, are small operations maybe with (at most) a tiny handful of people involved. Often it is all one one guy (although he may pay others to produce masters)

The line between profit and loss can be very small for these companies and if they fall victim to counterfeiting, especially on a significant scale such as our ebay 'friend' practices then it can, quite literally, drive them out of business. This hurts the modeller because another producer, that more often than not is focussing on interesting 'niche' subjects the bigger manufacturers ignore, is no longer producing original and interesting stuff for you to build

If modellers don't take a principled stand in what the choose to buy then eventually there will be no incentive to make aftermarket as it will be copied and the small producer will not only not make a profit, they will also lose the significant amount of money necessary to bring a single kit to the market, pushing them out of business

Please think about this next time you think about saving a couple of dollars when buying a figure, because these counterfeiters bring nothing new to the hobby, only poor quality ripoffs of other people's hard work

I bet one would be hard pressed to find anyone in this thread who at one time or another has NOT downloaded say a film, or MP3, from the internet.

I personally see no difference between that, and purchasing a recast, especially if the kits are now OOP and it is the only real way to obtain said kit.

It's just a hobby to me, a place where i dont wish to bring questions of morality and ethics into the question.
I have bought a recasted resin bust once in the past, the quality was good, the price was more than half what it would have been if i bought the original, and i had FUN painting it.
I also slept easy that night without concern that i may fall from my moral high horse.

Not that it's right or not but I think most of us would see a difference in downloading a movie produced by a multi-million dollar studio run by a CEO that probably pulls in 5 million a year versus a guy who sculpts in his spare time and makes a little bit of side money selling figures.

Paul

If we draw a distinction between larger corporations and small businesses, saying its ok to rip one off but not the other, well why is that ok?
Whats the difference, morally, they should both be on the same level.
Weird grey area and its pushing right into a debate over ethics now

Time for me to get back to building

Simple response to this one ,if you don't like being ripped off don't rip anybody else off ,l admire your stance on world politics Juan but this aint the forum for that, as politics are a very emotive subject for most people along with religion its best that they are left out of discussions on modelling .

Well done, you've met one now. I personally do not believe it is OK to download copywrited music, films etc from the internet. For the same reason I do not use other people's images on the information supplied with my kits, or in the promotion of my kits

Legally there is no difference between stealing (and it is abetting stealing) from a small producer or a large corporation

However, in practical terms, it could only take two consecutive releases from a small producer being pirated and 'stealing' their sales to eliminate their ability to fund the next one. Hollywood on the other hand will still be able to make the next movie

Ask yourself why these copies are so cheap? It has little to do with the physical prodcution cost (mould making and resin raw materials) all the cost is in the development, master (if a pattern maker is employed which with figures can be very expensive) and marketing

By stealing a genuine producer's work, the pirate piggybacks off their hard work and investment without having to do any themselves. That's why its cheap, because they are stealing someone else's time and investment

Sheet again:

In my humble opinion, are taking things and answer site.

These figures we are talking about several years ago that ceased to be in the market. So several years ago that were not in circulation, except for the few who have bought then.

These people who had them, painted them, were kept for painting at the time identified and others put on sale, probably in Ebay at prices substantially raised, which I think is good, but they were very few figures and cost money .

The creator of these figures, not again made since then, with time, consider that the copy does not cause any injury.

Even the pharmaceutical laboratories, when passing a certain time, they have to license the patent.

Finally, I'd rather have those figures on the market and buy power at a reasonable price not to have them market.

Start now to mourn for a person who, for a few years had passed from these figures, therefore, does not see the point.

Respect,

Mon

Chris

I totally agree whit you.

A large diffusion of counterfeit copies may be a hazard for our hobby

Stealing from small producer may lead to theyr exctintion

The large companies plagued by this problem may be reduce theyr investements (less profits= less investments) and of course, decrease the average quality of products

Dammit! i bought a copy from friggin wingpro. Knowing these are copies, i won't be buying them again.

Well, I'm not interested in telling you where you should be or
what your important things should be.
Since you don't seem to remember what you wrote in your previous post,
let me remind you what you wrote: